


Ways to Woo Your Best Friend Without Doing Jack-Shit

by Angelic_fangirl



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: F/M, Good times, Jealousy, M/M, Modern AU, Remember when I said there was only little angst?, because eddie's mom is literal satan, but i guess that was given, i guess, i'm gonna rename it angst, it's gonna get gay so jot that down, jealous richie, love and other shit like that, oblivious eddie, richie's got some wooing to do, some homophobia, teeny tiny amount of angst, the losers fucking know, they're like 17 year olds here so yeah, this fic is pretty much all angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-23
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-01-04 14:07:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 30,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12170418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelic_fangirl/pseuds/Angelic_fangirl
Summary: ”If I d-didn’t know any better, I’d s-say you were j-jealous Richie,” Bill said, making Ben and Mike snicker.”Jealous of what exactly? The fact that Eddie is supposedly getting laid? Trust me, I can get laid too, if I want,” Richie breathed out.”No, I t-think you’re jealous of t-the fact that Eddie is getting l-laid, but not by you.”// Eddie gets a girlfriend and I guess we could say that Richie isn't exactly too happy about it.





	1. 1. Do you want me to show her what a real man’s schlong looks like?

**Author's Note:**

> The start maybe a bit clumsy, but wait till I get on a roll bitch.
> 
> I guess I just came up with this after watching some drama unfold between my pals, oh well.

  **1.**

 

It all started when Eddie Kaspbrak got his first girlfriend.

 

The rest of the losers club were absolutely stunned that it was _Eddie_ who managed to get a girlfriend first out of them all(excluding Ben and Beverly who had gone out for a year). After all, Eddie was smallest in size and one could argue that perhaps the shyest. Well, maybe shy wasn’t the best word for it, more like socially awkward and so afraid of germs that exchanging spit with another person probably repulsed him. So it really was like a miracle from heavens that Eddie was the first one to announce that he was going out with somebody.

 

It happened two weeks before their senior year started. During that summer a new family had moved to Derry, on Eddie’s street in fact. The family had a girl their age and nearly every time when Eddie wasn’t spending time with his beloved friends, he was spending his time with his new neighbour, Allison Greene.

 

”I gotta go now,” Eddie said, getting up from his spot on the couch where he had just been watching movies with his friends. He had yet to tell his friends about his new girlfriend, and he wasn’t sure how long he could keep the secret. It was inevitable that he was going to have to let the cat out of the bag soon – after all soon they would be going back to school and Allison wanted to meet his friends. But Eddie wasn’t sure if he was ready to face the endless teasing he was going to get yet.

 

”What, already?” Mike asked from where he was sitting, sharing a seat with Stan. ”We were just going to watch E.T.”

 

Eddie shifted on his feet, refusing to look any of his friends in their eyes. ”Yeah, um, my mom told me to, um, be home early, so I should go...” It wasn’t the best lie he could come up with, but truth be told, Eddie wasn’t exactly the best liar either.

 

”Oh cut the shit Eds, none of us is bying that,” Richie said, taking a hold of Eddie’s hand and pulling him back on the couch they had shared. ”I’m sure Mrs K won’t mind if you’re a little late.”

 

”I don’t think it’s Mrs Kaspbrak that wants Eddie home early,” Beverly said with a knowing smirk, leaning forward a little to stare at Eddie properly, making Eddie blush horribly. Of course it was Bev who was going to figure it out. ”Tell us Eddie, who’s actually waiting for you?”

 

Eddie got up from the couch again, a little faster this time. ”I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

 

”Just spit it Eddie. We’re your friends, you can talk to us,” Bev said, a gentle smile replacing the smirk on her face.

 

A short silence filled the room as every member of the losers club stared at Eddie with expecting expressions. Eddie’s face was red again and he still found it difficult to meet anyone’s eyes, and for some reason he couldn’t even glance at Richie.

 

”You got some hot aunt or grandma visiting or something?” Richie laughed, making Eddie frown.

 

”Ihaveagirlfriend,” Eddie said so quickly and so quiet that none of his friends could understand a word he said.

 

”I’m sorry what?” Beverly asked, leaning closer still, making Eddie’s face heat up even more.

 

”I have a girlfriend,” Edde repeated, this time through gritted teeth.

 

The reaction was almost exatcly the kind of he expected. Almost every one of them, even Richie, was quiet and staring at him with their mouths open. The only exception was Beverly, who punched her fist in the air and chanted how she absolutely called it.

 

”I told you Ben, I fucking told you,” she squaled, clinging onto Ben’s arm who nodded his head.

 

”Yes, you did tell me and I didn’t believe you.”

 

”Wait, wait, so some chick is actually, voluntarily, going out with you?” Richie asked, now sitting straight instead of laying on the couch. ”Has she like, never seen a proper, full grown dick before? Do you want me to show her what a real man’s schlong looks like?”

 

Eddie pursed his lips. ”And you wonder why I didn’t tell you.” With those words Eddie marched out of Bill’s house, nearly slamming the door behind him.

 

After he had gone, Richie received slaps from all of his friends. ”Outch, what the fuck?”

 

”W-way to go R-richie,” Bill scoffed and the rest of the loser’s club murmured in agreement.

 

”What the hell did I do?”

 

 

* * *

 

 

It wasn’t like Eddie being in a relationship bothered Richie. In complete honesty, maybe it was even good for the poor boys self-esteem, and frankly, Richie thought that Eddie deserved to be happy.

 

What bothered Richie, though, was the fact that he had thought that their friendship made Eddie happy enough. He thought that the losers club was all Eddie, or any of them, needed to feel loved and happy. So yes, maybe Eddie finding somebody did bother him a little.

 

But Richie wasn’t jealous. Not at all. Eddie’s relationships were none of his business. Richie was just worried that now that Eddie was dating somebody from outside the losers club, maybe Eddie didn’t want to spend so much time with them anymore. After all now he had somebody who he liked unconditionally and who he could make out with and probably have so much more fun with, so why would Eddie want to spend time with his friends anymore?

 

See, Ben and Beverly going out didn’t bother him all that much – they were all friends anyway, nothing chnaged except the fact that he was constantly waiting for their make out sessions to turn into some live porn, and quite frankly, for once Richie could say that that wasn’t the kind of porn he wanted to see.

 

It would have been so much easier if Eddie had just started to date somebody from the losers club. But on second thought, Eddie dating Bill or Stan or Mike still bothered Richie. It would be easier if Eddie would just stay the fuck out of romantic relationships with people.

 

Yes, that’s better.

 

”I bet she looks like a troll,” Richie mumbled as he threw a rock against a tree. They were waiting for Eddie to show up with his new girlfriend, and all of them were excited.

 

Well all, except for Richie, who didn’t really want to be there.

 

”Richie don’t be like that,” Beverly narrowed her eyes at Richie. Out of all of the losers club, Beverly seemed the most excited about Eddie’s girlfriend. Richie wasn’t exactly sure whether she was just happy for Eddie or if she secretly wished to have some female company for a change. ”I actually crossed paths with them the other day, she’s actually pretty cool.

 

”I’ll believe it when I see it,” Richie scoffed and threw another rock at the tree.

 

”Seriously, what crawled up your ass and died?” Stan asked in an annoyed tone. ”All day you’ve been in an awful mood.”

 

”If I d-didn’t know any better, I’d s-say you were j-jealous Richie,” Bill said, making Ben and Mike snicker. Richie glared at them so hard that they immediately stopped but the amused smiles stayed on their faces.

 

”Jealous of what exactly? The fact that Eddie is supposedly getting laid? Trust me, I can get laid too, if I want,” Richie breathed out, his voice coming out angrier than he intended. Fuck, he really needed a cigarette right now.

 

”No, I t-think you’re jealous of t-the fact that Eddie is getting l-laid, but not by you,” Bill said a smirk forming on his lips. Ben and Mike snickered again and this time Beverly and Stan joined the laughter too.

 

Richie scoffed. ”Oh please, I don’t know what kind of gay porn scenario you have playing in your head, but you better stop wanking to it. I don’t know who in their right minds would want to fuck – or get fucked for that matter – by Eddie Kaspbrak, but-”

 

”Well I do seem to quite enjoy it, maybe you should try it sometime,” a voice came from behind the group, making them all turn around to face Eddie and his girlfriend. Eddie was pinching the bridge of his nose as if he was already regretting bringing her there, while the girl was staring at them with a claculating gaze.

 

It wasn’t often that Richie Tozier was left speechless, but there he was, gaping at the girl with his mouth open, unable to find a witty come back or anythin at all to say.

 

”Why were you talking about getting fucked by me?” Eddie asked, with an uncomfortable look on his face, looking as though he wanted nothing more than to run away.

 

”Um, we were, um,” Bill tried, but couldn’t come up with an explanation.

 

”Richie was being a grade A asshole again and wondered why would any girl in their right mind get voluntarily fucked by you, but I think Allison answered the question just fine,” Beverly said with a smile.

 

”Okay...” Eddie said uncomfortably and shifted awkwardly. ”So this is-”

 

”Allison, I’m sure you’ve heard about as much about me as I’ve heard about you,” Allison said with a bright smile as she took a seat next to Stan on the rock he was sitting on. ”Which is absolutely nothing.”

 

After spending an entire day with Eddie and his girldfriend, Richie was absolutely outraged. How dare Eddie date a girl who was absolutely perfect in every single way? Richie tried and tried and tried and he couldn’t find a single thing in Allison that he didn’t like.

 

Except for the fact that she was dating his best friend.

 

Of course Allison just had to be gorgeous. Her skin reminded Richie of the caramel he and Eddie loved to eat when they were younger,and her eyes were almost the same chocolate brown as Eddie’s. Her hair was dark, almost black, and nearly reached her waist. She seemed so effortlessly beautiful that Richie wanted to throw up.

 

And then she just had to share a similar sense of humor with Richie and no matter how hard he had tried, Richie found himself unable to hold his laughter every time she said something. It was like Richie and Allison were the same person, but born into two separate families.

 

The one thing that set Richie and Allison apart was the fact that apparently Sonia Kaspbrak absolutely adored the ground the girl walked on and if her son had to date a girl, she was glad it Allison Greene he was dating. That didn’t bother Richie too much, but it still did.

 

* * *

 

 

”So what did you think of Allison?” Eddie asked nervously the next day. They were again at Bill’s house, thanks to Bill’s parents being away for a while.

 

”Well...” Mike started.

 

”She could have been worse...” Beverly shrugged.

 

”I guess we’ll get along, I don’t know...” Stan mumbled.

 

Eddie’s whole posture slumped visibly and a pout formed on his lips unconciously. He had been so sure that his friends liked Allison. What was he going to do now?

 

”Oh,” he said quietly and sat down on the couch.

 

”Oh chill Eddie, we were only joking,” Mike laughed. ”Seriously, I haven’t met a person nearly as funny as Allison in my life.”

 

Richie felt like he should be offended by that.

 

”Yeah, you should totally ask her to hang out with us,” Ben nodded enthusiastically and every single one of the losers club, including Stan and excluding Richie, agreed with him.

 

”Oh thank fuck,” Eddie mumbled as he put his face in his hands.

 

”What about y-you Richie, what are your t-thoughts on future M-mrs Eddie Kaspbrak?” Bill asked, a slight teasing tone on his voice that Eddie missed.

 

Richie glared at him. Were all of his friends suddenly against him? Were they suddenly siding with the she-devil that called herself Eddie’s girlfriend?

 

Richie took a quick glance at Eddie who was now staring expectedly at him. Something in Richie’s stomach squirmed. There was no way he could tell Eddie that he wasn’t too fond of his girlfriend, he just couldn’t.

 

”Yeah, there was nothing wrong with her. She was quite cool. But I do have to disagree on one thing with you people,” Richie pointed his finger at Mike. ”I think we all know she’s nowhere near the funniest person you’ve ever met.”


	2. 2. Better things to swallow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried posting this, but something weird happened, I'm not sure what, so this is my second attempt at posting this.
> 
> I'm so happy from your positive feedback, thank you so much! I'm not sure if I'm able to answer all asks every time, but we'll see.
> 
> Also, I would like to note that I have severe dyslexia and English isn't my native language, so you're just going to have to bare with me until I start to edit this.

**2.**

 

Okay maybe Richie’s worst nightmare didn’t come true. Eddie didn’t ditch the losers club completely – they still hung out as often as before. The only thing difference was the fact that nearly every time the losers club decided to do something together Eddie brought Allison with him.

 

 Apparently Richie was the only one bothered by this. In fact, Eddie didn’t bring Allison out of his complete free will, no it was usually one of the other losers who practically begged Eddie to bring her with him. More often than not it was either Beverly or Bill, which confirmed Richie’s suspicions that Bev was secretly craving for some feminine company.

 

When school started again Richie knew it was only going to be worse. All the rest of the losers were somehow looking forward to school starting – Mike was finally allowed to come to public school and it was their last year. Honestly Richie would have been vaguely excited too if he didn’t know that now he had to watch Eddie and Allison kissing and holding hands every single fucking day.

 

”You know you wouldn’t be so pissed off if you would just swallow your pride and admit that you’re jealous,” Stan said on the last day of summer. They had just spent the entire day at the Barrens and Richie and Stan decided to walk home together. Usually it would have been Richie and Eddie walking home together, but nowadays Eddie was walking with Allison.

 

”I can think of better things to swallow, thank you very much.” _Fuck, that sounded so gay_ , Richie thought in his mind, almost regretting his words. Not that homosexuality bothered Richie – hell, he somehow suspected himself to be a little gay. Not much, but just a little bit.

 

”I’m just going to ignore that, i don’t even know,” Stan scoffed and pinched the bridge of his nose. ”I’m already regretting walking with you. Should’ve just accepted Bill’s offer to go by car.”

 

”What and miss the chance of spending some quality alone time with little ol’ me?” Richie faked an offended tone and put his hand over his heart. ”You wound me Uris.”

 

”Why do I even bother?”

 

Richie rolled his eyes. ”I honestly have no idea what you’re on about. Why would I be jealous of Eddie’s relationship anyway? Trust me, bitches be forming a line behind my door, just to get a taste.”

 

”I’m not saying you’re jealous of his relationship Richie,” Stan stated, kicking a small rock on the ground. ”I mean that you’re jealous of Allison.”

 

Richie stopped dead on his tracks to gape at his friend. That must’ve been the most ridiculous accusation he had ever heard, and trust me, he had heard plenty.

 

”That’s – that’s insane. Why-why would I, no You’re wrong,” Richie said and started walking again, a little faster this time. ”Me being jealous of Allison would mean that I have some romantic feelings towards Eddie, and trust me, you could not be more wrong.”

 

”I never said anything about romantic feelings, but thanks for the confirmation anyway.”

 

* * *

 

 

”Eds my boy!” Richie bellowed when he saw Eddie fumbling with his locker the next morning. The lock on Eddie’s locker had always been broken and opening it was a big difficulty for him. Fortunately, Richie had magic hands and always managed to open the door.

 

Eddie turned to look at him and smiled at him. ”Hey Richie.”

 

”So where’s your girlfrend?” Richie asked and leaned on the locker next to Eddie’s, watching as the boy still struggled to open it. _Please have moved back far away. Or fallen into a bottomless pit_ , Richi thought before he could help himself.

 

”At the principle’s office. She has to get her things from there, Mike as well. After all it’s their first day,” Eddie said and kicked the locker when it still didn’t open. ”For fuck’s sake!”

 

”My dear boy, do you need some assistance?” Riche asked with a smug smile on his face and Eddie nodded. It didn’t take even ten seconds for Richie to get it open.

 

”I don’t understand,” Eddie whined. ”How come you can get it open with no effort?”

 

”These hands really do wonders,” Richie said and wiggled his eyebrows at Eddie who scoffed. ”So what does the legendary Eddie Spagetti have on the first period of this glorious Monday?”

 

”Please don’t call me that, Allison likes it too much.” _Ah, yes there she was again. Allison._ ”Maths. How’bout you?”

 

Richie grinned wodely and threw his arm over Eddie’s shoulder. ”Well who would have thoguht, I guess we have the same math class! Now I know who’s doing my homework, for the whole semester!”

 

”I’m fairly positive it’s not going to be me,” Eddie said, again rolling his eyes and shrugging Richie’s arm off his shoulders, only for Richie to put it back there again. This time Eddie didn’t try to move it away.

 

_I guess that can be counted as a point for Richie._

 

 

* * *

 

 

Eddie couldn’t help but wonder what was up with Richie. Ever since Eddie had told them about Allison, and more specifically ever since his friends had met Allison, something in Richie’s demeanor changed. It wasn’t a big change, and Eddie was sure he was the only one to notice, but it was there. It was as if Richie was a little quieter and more distant from Eddie than he used to be.

 

It wasn’t always like that, but every time Allison was present, Richie seemed to shut down. Eddie thought there was only two posiibilities – either Richie didn’t like Allison at all, or he liked her a little too much.

 

In a way Eddie thought that the latter option was more likely to be true, even if he didn’t like the thought – I mean come on, Allison and Richie shared the same cruse sense of humor, of course Richie liked her. But did that mean that Richie liked her the same way Eddie liked her? Was that the reason he went silent when Allison was present?

 

For some reason Eddie didn’t want to confort Richie about it.

 

”You know what Eds,” Richie said as they walked to the school parking lot. ”You and I don’t hang out alone anymore.”

 

Eddie grimaced – he didn’t want to admit that Richie’s statement was true. It wasn’t like he didn’t feel bad about it. He did his best to balance spending time with his friends and his girlfriend and the losers club had made it fairly easy, allowing Allison to hang out with them. But Eddie knew that the time he spent alone with just one or two of his friends – or more commonly Richie – had disappeared.

 

”Yeah, that’s true,” Eddie nodded and swallowed. ”Sorry about that.”

 

For a second Richie looked like he didn’t want to accept the apology, but soon enough a wide grin formed on his face. ”It’s okay, no problemo, no real harm done! It’s not like your my only friend, I have like, five others.”

 

”Right,” Eddie said, staring at his shoes and wishing he didn’t feel so awkward. Why did he feel so awkward? Was he just feeling guilty? Probably.

 

”But what are you doing tonight? You could make it up to me,” Richie said and shot Eddie that infamous trade mark smirk of his that always indicated that there was some sort of double meaning to Richie’s words.

 

”Probably just lock myself into my room,” Eddie shrugged as they reached the parking lot. Bill had promised to give them a lift with his car, but he was nowhere to be seen yet.

 

”Well how about that! We can lock ourselves into your room together then!” Richie said and threw his arm around Eddie’s shoulder, something he did quite often.

 

”Yeah sure,” Eddie nodded, not wanting to let upset Richie. And quite frankly, Eddie had sort of missed spending time with his best friend, just the two of them.


	3. 3. Completely platonic, nowhere near romantic type of love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I'm on fire, but do not get used to me updating this frequently... I just have this week off from school and I have nothing better to do lol.
> 
> Again overwhelmed by the positive feedback omg. Hope you enjoy this one as well!

**3.**

 

After thinking about it for a while, Richie came to the conclusion that maybe he was a little jealous. It was hard to explain – Richie just didn’t like it that Eddie liked somebody better than him now. He had always prided himself to be Eddie’s favourite person and now he felt his position threatened. So of course the sensible thing to do was make sure that Allison didn’t take his place on the throne.

 

Richie was relieved that Eddie had agreed to hang out with him that day and he promised to show up to Rihcie’s house after he finished with his homework. Richie didn’t even bother to ask what was Allison doing now that Eddie miracolously had some free time in his hands, mostly because he didn’t want Eddie to think about Allison more than he already did.

 

”Are you coming yet?” Richie called Eddie the fifth time that night and he heard Eddie let out a loud sigh from the other end of the line. He was a little worried that soon enough Allison would swoop in and ask Eddie to hang out with her and of course Eddie wasn’t going to turn her down so he would just cancel his plans with Richie.

 

”Could you like, chill maybe? I’m almost finished with my math homework and I’ll be on my way then,” Eddie answered, his voice sounding bored.

 

”Oh nice, could you like send me a picture of your answers?”

 

”How the hell do you get straight A’s? Some of us have to work our asses off to get good grades and then there’s you who barely does any work and still does good in the tests. It’s not fair, I demand a refund,” Eddie complained, sounding like a whiny twelve-year-old girl. It made Richie smile – he didn’t even realize how much he had missed talking to Eddie.

 

”I think you’re forgetting that I’m a genious in disguise Eddie Spagetti,” Richie grinned.

 

”Call me that one more time and I won’t be coming at all.”

 

”That’s not what your mother said last night,” Richie hummed and Eddie hang up the phone call, leaving Richie to chuckle at his own joke.

 

* * *

 

”Your room is filthy,” Eddie noted as soon as he stepped inside Richie’s room. Eddie had a habit of not knocking on the door whenever he came around, because he knew that Richie’s parents either didn’t care or weren’t home.

 

Richie turned his head to look at Eddie from where he was laying on his bed. ”You should really consider a career as a detective, because I don’t think even Sherlock Holmes is as observant as you Eddie my man.”

 

Eddie rolled his eyes and wrinkled his nose at the pile of dirty clothes on Richie’s chair and decided that the cleanest place for him to take a seat on was probably Richie’s bed, even if Richie always laid in there wearing his shoes. So he carefully sat down on the bed and leaned on the wall behind him, watching as Richie sat up as well and sat next to Eddie so their arms brushed against each other.

 

”So what do you want to do?” Eddie asked and shifted a little so there was at least a small gap between them. ”You seemed rather eager to get me here.”

 

”Can’t I just ask my best friend in the whole wide world to hang out every once in a while?” Richie asked with a wide grin and pulled Eddie back closer to him. Eddie knew it was just Richie’s way of annoying him, but for some reason it made Eddie gulp and his face heat up a little bit.

 

”So there’s nothing specific you want to do?”

 

”Yeah there is, your mom,” Richie cackled as Eddie pushed him and made him fall on his side.

 

”For the love of god, why do people think your mom jokes are funny? They’re not,” Eddie complained and threw his head back to rest on the wall behind him.

 

Richie’s laughter quited down a little. ”What are you talking about, I’m literally the only person who laughs at them. The rest of you just always look like you want to punch me in the face when I say them.”

 

”Yes, well they just happen to fit into Allison’s sense of humor as well,” Eddie shrugged and turned away from Richie and took the abandoned comic book from his night table. Now he felt awkward talking about Allison with Richie after he started to wonder Richie’s feelings towards her.

 

”Right of course they do,” Richie said, the humor in his voice gone and his lips a little pursed. Richie stared down at Eddie as we turned the pages of the Spiderman comic, not even trying to concentrate on what was on the pages.

 

An awkward silence fell around them and Eddie prayed for Richie to break it like he always did. He would say some horrible, overly sexual joke and they could go back to their usually bickering and Eddie wouldn’t have to worry about Richie liking Allison too much.

 

But Richie didn’t say anything and Eddie knew he would have to be the one to open his mouth. He didn’t want to just go ahead and ask Richie the question himself, he wanted Richie to tell him himself.

 

”So what’s been up with you lately?” Eddie asked, biting his lip in the hopes that Richie would just spill it.

 

”What do you mean?” Richie asked, staring at the ceiling and playing with a pen he found from his nightstand.

 

”It’s just that,” Eddie swallowed. ”You’ve been kind of distant lately. At least from me. Like, every time we hang out with the rest of the losers you seem to completely ignore me.” _Shit I didn’t mean to say it like that fuck,_ Eddie thought, already ready to correct his words.

 

”I mean-”

 

”Aw, does little Eddie want me to pay more attention to him?” Richie sat back up from where he had left laying on the bed and leaned towards Eddie with a shit-eating grin on his face. ”I’ll give you more attention if you want it so bad.”

 

”I didn’t mean it like that and you know it,” Eddie narrowed his eyes and slightly pushed Richie away.

 

”Then what did you mean?”

 

”I mean that you seem more distant and I don’t like it,” Eddie huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, pouting like a child. ”You’re not acting like yourself. And as annoying as you can be, it’s kind of worrying.”

 

Richie didn’t immediately answer, instead he stared at Eddie in a way that made him slightly uncomfrotable. It didn’t help that Richie’s eyes were already magnified by those glasses he always wore(for some reason contact lenses freaked him out) but to Eddie it felt like he was looking right through him.

 

”Have you ever stopped to think that maybe you’re not paying attention to me Eds?” Richie questioned, making Eddie’s eyes widened. ”I get it that you have a girlfriend and all, but I need some Eddie-lovin’ in my life too every once in a while. You could at least give me some sugar instead of being glued to your girlfriends ass every second of the day.”

 

”Is that what it’s about? You’re acting weird because _I’m_ the one not paying attention to _you_?”

 

Richie shrugged. ”Take it as you will. But I don’t think I’ve been acting any different than before, so myabe it’s just a frigment of that wild imagination of yours Edster,” Richie leaned in to pinch Eddie’s cheek, making Eddie slap his hand away.

 

”Don’t ever call me that again and stay away from my cheeks,” Eddie mumbled.

 

”But you’re just so cute Eds!” Richie smiled. ”You know, if half of the people were as cute as you, the world would be a better place.”

 

* * *

 

 

Richie’s morning didn’t start too good but when Allison Greene caught up with him on the school hallway one day, Richie felt like the whole day was going to suck.

 

”Richie hi!” Allison greeted him as though they were actually friends.

 

 _Well news flash asshole, we’re not_ , Richie thought but didn’t say anything, instead smiled widely back at Allison.

 

”Hello Mrs Eddie Kaspbrak,” he said, the name _Mrs Eddie Kaspbrak_ tasting awful on his tongue and he swore to himself to never use it again. ”How are you this wonderful morning?” He didn’t reallycare, but he figured he might as well at least pretend to like her, if it was only for Eddie’s sake.

 

 _The lenghts people are willing to go for love,_ Richie thought before he could help himself. _Friendly love. Completely platonic, nowhere near romatic type of love._

 

”Me? I’m fine,” Allison answered, smiling brilliantly. Now that Richie thought about it, it seemed like everywhere Allison went, she was always smiling. _Disgusting_. ”Listen, there was something I wanted to talk to you about...”

 

”Before you say anything, I get it. It’s completely normal for you to feel raw sexual attraction to me, but I’m going to have to let you down easy,” Richie said, putting a hand on Allison’s shoulder. ”You’re dating my best friend, and we both know that it’s just not right.”

 

Allison rolled her eyes. ”Wow, next time you decide to break my heart, at least be gentle.”

 

”I just think it’s better this way.”

 

”No, but for real I need to talk to you about something,” Allison said as they stopped at Richie’s locker. Richie didn’t really use his locker for any purpose, he usually forgot(left) his books at home, but he did keep some paper in there, just in case he was in the mood for taking notes(he never was).

 

”Are you going to ask me what sort of flowers Eddie likes? Or what his favourite position in bed is? Because I’m pretty sure Eddie goes for the traditional-”

 

”I’m serious,” Allison said, this time a small frown on her lips. Richie shut up immedaitely.

 

”Well, shoot away,” Richie shrugged and slammed the locker door closed and leaned on it.

 

”Look, I know that you and Eddie are best friends and I know what you guys are like. Or what your relationship is like and I can’t help but notice, and Eddie even mentioned it to me, that there seems to be a slight tension between you two. Or like you don’t spend so much time together anymore and I can’t help but feel guilty about it, because the last thing I want is to come between Eddie and his friends. I know what you guys mean to him and I don’t want to ruin that,” Allison explained and she sounded so sincere that Richie almost believed her.

 

 _Doesn’t want to come between Eddie and me, yeah right. It seems to be her mission number one to make sure our friendship withers and dies,_ Richie thought but kept the smile on his face.

 

”Oh of course not. You’re not coming between us. Eddie just hasn’t had that much time to focus on me anymore, but I know nothing between us will ever change,” Richie said and grinned at Allison. But in his mind Richie knew that this meant war.


	4. 4. I’m going to squash him like the little stuttering bug he is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm literally on fire. For the third time, thank you so much for your support, keep it coming, it gives me motivation!

**4.**

 

Whether or not Allison was aware of it, it was now war between him and Richie. It was a war for Eddie’s attention and Richie was determined to win.

 

Some could say that Allison had the high-ground – after all she was Eddie’s girlfriend and she could go on and kiss him whenever she pleased. But Richie knew he was going to take her down and make her regret she ever laid eyes on Eddie.

 

”I think you’re being a little dramatic Richie,” Mike shook his head and closed the book he was reading. ”Allison isn’t trying to steal Eddie away from you, she said it herself.”

 

”She’s trying to get my guard down so she can deliver the final blow. She has been winning this thing for too long and I’m going to show her who really is Eddie’s favourite person,” Richie said and leaned back in his seat and looked around the library. Normally he would never take a step towards the library, at least not voluntarily, but right now he wanted to have somebody to talk to, and Mike was only one available.

 

”Richie, I know this is hard for you to understand, but Allison actually likes us, she actually likes you,” Mike sighed. ”Maybe you should just accept that we’re not kids anymore and that there are other people in the world. One day Eddie and Allison might break up and he could find another girl. Or you could find somebody – boy or a girl.”

 

”What’s that supposed to mean?” Richie snapped. He hadn’t really told his friends that he was seriously questoning his sexuality, and he certainly didn’t expect them to figure it out before he did himself.

 

Mike threw his hands up quickly. ”Nothing, nothing. It’s just that you’ve never talked about your sexuality – besides the crude sex jokes – and we don’t want to assume anything...”

 

”Well it feels like you’re assuming something right now!”

 

”Richie don’t get mad,” Mike said calmly and Richie took a deep breath and shook his head.

 

”I just think that it would’ve been better if Eddie would have just started to date one of us. You know like Ben and Beverly. It would’ve been much easier, no new friends needed and it would have been just… better,” Richie said and pursed his lips. Mike didn’t say anything for a second, instead amusement filled his face.

 

”So if Eddie and I would have started dating, it would have been better?” Mike asked with a raised brow and small smirk.

 

Richie shot him a look. ”No.”

 

”Okay, how about Eddie and Stan? Would it have been better then?” Mike tried again.

 

”Yeah, as if. They have no chemistry.”

 

”No they do have chemistry,” Mike shook his head. ”Tomorrow morning, I do too.”

 

Richie threw a ball of paper at his head.

 

”Sorry, sorry,” Mike laughed. ”Okay, so if Eddie dating me or Stan is out of the question, I guess it would have just been better if Eddie and Bill would have fallen in love. Well, now that I think about, it kind of fits. Those two always seemed to have this sort of bond that the rest of us just can’t compare. I mean, they do hang out alone quite a lot and all...”

 

”What? No, no they don’t have some sort of ’bond’. They are just friends, and besides Eddie and I are a lot better friends than them, I don’t know what youre-” Richie stopped mid-sentence. ”Wait they hang out alone? Since when? Does Allison know? What the fuck, how come I didn’t know about this, why haven’t I been told about this?”

 

”Oh, they’ve been hanging out _alone_ way before Allison came into the picture. They had movie marathons, they went on walks, swimming, you name it. Now that I think about it Bill did seem quite put down at first when he heard about Allison, I wonder if...”

 

”What is this shit! Do I have to declare a war on Denbrough as well? Because I will, and trust me, I’m going to squash him like the little stuttering bug he is,” Richie threatened, making Mike’s smirk widen.

 

”So what I’m getting is that you think it would be better for all of us if Eddie started dating somebody from our group of friends, but Eddie dating me, Stan or Bill, who are the only ones available, wouldn’t work out. So that just leaves you,” Mike said making Richie stare at him. The stare was hard and calculating.

 

”Huh,” Richie said and looked away from Mike, still looking like he was considering it. ”Well now that I think about it, it’s the only relationship that would make sense.”

 

”Right of course it is,” Mike rolled his eyes.

 

* * *

 

 

Eddie was again struggling to open his locker when somebody came from behind him and wrapped their arms around his waist. Eddie let out a loud shriek and for a second he expected it to be Allison, until he realized the person was way too long to be Allison.

 

”Need some help Eds?” Richie asked, resting his chen on top of Eddie’s head and keeping his arms wrapped around Eddie’s waist.

 

”Get off me and don’t call me Eds,” Eddie snapped and pushed Richie back lightly, and luckily the other boy stepped back.

 

”So do you need some help or nahh?” Richie asked, a smirk on his face as always.

 

”I can do this myself,” Eddie said and continued the battle he had with the lock. ”I’m strong, independent and I don’t need your help.”

 

”I thought you were going to end that sentence with ’woman’ and I was almost offended that you thought you couldn’t tell me about the sex change,” Richie snorted and Eddie turned around to slap him on the arm.

 

”That’s so not funny Richie. Ever heard about not being a total dick?” Eddie snapped but his voice didn’t sound as angry as one would’ve expected.

 

”Geez, I was only joking,” Richie said and reached over to open the lock on Eddie’s locker. Richie left his hand to rest on the locker next to Eddie’s, so Eddie was basically trapped between the lockers and Richie.

 

”So… come here often?” he asked and Eddie rolled his eyes and pushed Richie once again further away from him.

 

”Shut up,” Eddie muttered and started to take his books out of his locker. Richie turned his head to the left, only to see _Allison and Bill_ talking to each other and coming closer and closer to him and Eddie. Richie looked quickly at Eddie, who hadn’t noticed the other two yet but had gotten all of his books out by now, and quickly shut the locker back closed and started to pull Eddie to the other direction as quickly as he could.

 

”Let’s go this way,” Richie said, his hand having a tight grip on Eddie’s arm.

 

”Hey, but I promised Allison we’d meet before the next class-”

 

”I forgot to mention, I saw her this morning, she told me that she’ll see you later,” Richie explained quickly, hoping that Eddie wouldn’t catch the obvious lie.

 

”O-okay,” Eddie sounded like Bill as Richie pulled him along. ”But our class is that way...”

 

”I know a shortcut.”

 

* * *

 

 

”Why do I even listen to you? There are no shortcuts in schools,” Eddie said from where he was seated. After Richie had pulled him along he had no time to think before next thing he knew Richie had dragged him out of the school building. ”My mom is going to flip-out when she hears I’ve skipped a class.”

 

Richie shrugged. ”So let’s skip the rest of them as well and then you’ll just say that you got sick.”

 

”Really? You want me to tell _my mom_ that I’m sick and not expect her to drag me to the hospital as soon as the words have left my mouth?” Eddie said with a raised eyebrow and leaned on the tree which they were sitting under.

 

Richie just shrugged and took a box of cigarettes from his pocket and a lighter.

 

Eddie wrinkled his nose in disgust. ”Could you not do that maybe? You’re the one who made me skip the class, you could at least make it worth my time and not totally poison me.”

 

Richie lowered the lighter a little and took the cigarette from his mouth, before smirking. ”Oh I can make it worth your time,” he said and scooted a little closer to Eddie and put his arm around the other boys shoulders, pulling him even closer. ”You can just tell me what you want.”

 

”I’m serious asshole,” Eddie scoffed and pushed Richie away, his face flushed slightly. He wasn’t sure what had gotten into Richie – he went from distant to nearly clingy in such a short time.

 

”So am I,” Richie grinned and put the cigarette back to his lips and started to light it again.

 

”Did you know that the smoke will be two times as toxic to me even though I’m not smoking it. If you’re gonna smoke, do it somewhere where there are no other people, because it’s harmful for those people,” Eddie complained. He usually tolerated Richie and Beverly smoking, but that was because there were the others with them, so gicing them distance was easier.

 

”Okay, I’ll tell you what. I won’t smoke this cigarette on one condition,” Richie said, a devious look on his face which made Eddie sure that the condition was not going to be good for him.

 

”Well?” Eddie asked, already frustrated.

 

The smirk on Richie’s face widened. ”You have to give me a kiss.”

 

Eddie paled immediately. Richie was joking. Wasn’t he? He was just Richie being Richie, he didn’t actually want to kiss Eddie. Did he? No, he couldn’t. Richie was well aware that Eddie had a girlfriend, he would never do that. And besides, they were friends. Just friends, Richie didn’t have any romantic feelings towards Eddie. Richie was straight. At least Eddie always had assumed him to be.

 

”Very funny,” Eddie muttered and looked away from Richie, not wanting to meet his eyes.

 

”Aww, come on Eds! Not even a little smootch” Richie whined and gave Eddie a mocking pout. ”Your mom don’t mind kissing me, why do you think it’s so bad?”

 

”Beep beep Richie.”


	5. 5. You are what you eat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ya'll gon lose you minds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was supposed to post this sooner, but I've seriously been working on this for three days lol. Usually I just write the chapters in like a day, but this is like longer than the others, so whoop.
> 
> Once again thank you for all the feedback! Brings a smile to my face! i haven't been answering most of them sorry, but this is a formal thank you for all who leave comments and kudos, they keep the writers happy!

**5.**

 

Richie’s hands balled into fists and he gritted his teeth as he watched Allison peppering Eddie’s face with little kisses. They were talking quietly and giggling to each other, completely ignoring the rest of the group. The others didn’t seem to mind – every once in a while Bev would turn to take a look at them, nudge Ben a little bit and they would start gushing over the happy pair. Suddenly the school lunch tasted ten times worse than it usually did.

 

While the rest of the group were having a supposedly interestin conversation, Richie glared at Allison so heatedly that he sort of wished she would catch fire. Richie figured that the rest of his friends didn’t notice, or didn’t care.

 

”S-so what are you g-guys doing t-tonight?” Bill asked. ”Mom and d-dad are going t-to visit mom’s s-sister with Georgia and I’m l-left alone all w-weekend. S-should we keep a m-movie night?”

 

”Yeah, that’s a great idea! We haven’t had movie nights in almost a month!” Bev said and clapped her hands together. ”It seems such a long time after having a movie night every other night during the summer.”

 

Mike nodded. ”Too true. But it does sound good.”

 

Richie, Stan and Ben liked the idea too. Next Bill asked Eddie and Allison whether or not they were up for it and Eddie agreed almost in a heartbeat.

 

”Have to get out of my house,” he sighed. ”Mom’s driving me nuts.”

 

”What about you Allison? Sound good?” Beverly asked and Richie almolst let out a groan. Movie nights with the losers club was nearly his favourite thing in the whole wide world – the last thing he needed was for Allison fucking Greene to come and ruin that for him too.

 

”Honestly, I would love to, but I’m leaving town also,” she said with an apologetic smile. ”I’m going to visit my grandma in DC and I’m going to be gone for the whole next week so...”

 

”Aww that’s too bad,” Richie said in mock disappointment before he could help himself. Allison didn’t notice the mocking tone in his voice, but his friends did and soon enough he felt somebody kicking him under the table. Richie looked in front of him to see Stan giving him a warning glare.

 

”It really is a shame. Well, maybe next time,” Bev said with a smile.

 

* * *

 

 

”Can you act any more like a dick?” Stan asked Richie after school had ended and Stan was taking his books out of his locker. Immediately after the final bell had rung, Stan had caught up with Richie, given him a good smack in the back of his head and told him to follow him.

 

”Well you know what they say, you are what you eat,” Richie said without thinking, before widening his eyes. ”No, wait-”

 

”Richie if you’re gay it’s okay,” Stan said and rolled his eyes before closing his locker. ”It’s not like you were being subtle about it.”

 

”I’m not gay Stanny boy! I love pussy. It’s my favourite thing in the whole wide world,” Richie defended himself, but he knew he was lying. He hated himself for lying like this to his friends, especially when they obviously knew the truth.

 

”Richie...” Stan groaned and squuzed his eyes shut in frustration.

 

”And what are you talking about being subtle? I am extremely subtle. I am master of subtlety. They call me the subtlety king,” Richie boasted and threw his hands up in the air.

 

”I don’t know who’s been calling you that, but they need to go see a doctor,” Stan scoffed and waved at Billy who was waiting for them by his car with Eddie.

 

Richie scoffed as he took in the scene. ”Where’s little Miss Allison Greene? Probably sucking some forty-year-old guy’s dick or something… Wouldn’t surprise me to be honest.”

 

”You need to get over your jealousy Richie, it’s not benefitting anyone,” Stan whispered to him just before they reached Eddie and Bill.

 

”Finally, we’ve been waiting for ages,” Eddie said rolling his eyes and taking a opening the doos to the passanger seat, sitting down and shutting the door immediately.

 

”What the fuck? He always sits in the backseat with me!” Richie complained to Stan, who let out a huge groan. ”I swear if Denbrough is trying to seduce him or something, I’ll give him a punch hard enough to make his stuttering stop.”

 

”Bill is not trying to seduce Eddie, dear god, just get into the fucking car Richie,” Stan whispered harshly before taking the seat behin the driver and slamming the door loudly.

 

Richie scoffed and got into the car as well, glaring at Bill who was already stuttering something to Eddie. Richie didn’t pay attention to what Bill was saying but at some point Eddie let out a loud laugh and Richie gave Stan a look that said _I fucking told you_.

 

”Oh my god,” Stan said and covered his face with his hands.

 

”You o-okay S-stan?” Bill asked and looked at Stan from the rearview mirror. Stan gave him a thumbs up.

 

”Yeah, just a headache.”

 

”I have some painkillers if you need,” Eddie offered but Stan shook his head.

 

”It’s not that bad, I’ll survive.”

 

After that the car filled with silence and Richie was beginning to get bored. The drive from school to his place wasn’t all that long, but Bill usually dropped Stan and Eddie off before taking Richie home. To entertain himself, he started to kick the back of Eddie’s seat(and to make Eddie pay attention to him). For a while Eddie didn’t react, until Richie kicked a little harder.

 

”So you want something?” Eddie turned around to look at Richie.

 

”Yeah, your mo-”

 

”Richie let’s not do this,” Stan sighed and Eddie thanked him for interrupting Richie.

 

Richie was getting a little frustrated with Stan. Richie was beginning to think it was Stan who got a problem, not him. Why was Stan taking Eddie’s side? Why would Stan be taking Eddie’s side, as if Richie and Eddie weren’t on the same side. They were. There weren’t sides, and if there were, Eddie and Richie would be on the same one, while the rest of the world were on the other.

 

_Unless Stan is intentionally trying to come between us,_ Richie thought suddenly. _Maybe Stan too is in love with Eddie, just like Allison and Bill and wants to make sure Eddie and I will be separated._

 

The thought hit Richie like a tidal wave, and he wasn’t sure where it came from. All he knew was that suddenly two of his friends were in love with his best friend, his best friend who had a fucking girlfriend and suddenly there were three people instead of one who were trying to come between him and Eddie.

 

* * *

 

 

”So what are we planning on watching?” Mike asked as he helped Bill put the snacks Ben brought into bowls.

 

Richie was the only one missing at this point – but that wasn’t anything new. Richie was always late, or like he liked to call it _fashionably late,_ and it wasn’t once or twice when the rest of the losers club would have to call him home and tell him that they would be starting without him if he didn’t hurry the fuck up.

 

Only this time they couldn’t threaten him with that, since Richie had promised to bring the movies.

 

Bill shrugged. ”W-what ever Richie is g-going to b-bring.”

 

”God I hope he’s not expecting us to watch that fucking horror movie with the doll,” Eddie rolled his eyes. ”He’s been trying to get me to watch it with him for months.”

 

”Aw, don’t be like that Eddie, it was quite a good movie,” Beverly said from the living room where she and Ben were setting blankets and pillow in place.

 

”So Ben and Bev are obviously going to take one couch for themselves,” Stan noted. ”How about the rest of us. Is it going to be me with Bill and Eddie with Richie like always, or does Mike want to cuddle with somebody?”

 

Mike laughed. ”I’m okay with whatever solution you come with,” he said and took some of the bowls to the living room.

 

Stan looked at Eddie expectedly. ”Are you okay with it or..? I mean, we could just totally leave Richie by himself. Serves him right for always being late.”

 

”What serves me right?” Richie’s voice came from the hallway, and Eddie and Stan turned to see Richie standing there with a bag full of movies.

 

”We were j-just trying t-to decide who shares seats w-with w-who,” Bill explained. ”We w-were thinking m-maybe switching i-it for a ch-change.”

 

”Nonesense! You can share a couch with whoever you like Big Bill, but if I don’t get to cuddle with my little Eddie boy, I will leave immediately and take my movies with me!” Richie delcared immediately, walking over to where Eddie was standing and putting and arm around his shoulders.

 

”Should’ve guessed,” Stan rolled his eyes and went to the living room as well, Bill following hot on his heels. Both of them missed the dirty look Richie was shooting them, but Eddie didn’t.

 

”What are you glaring at them for?” Eddie asked, shaking Richie’s arm off his shoulders.

 

Richie looked at Eddie with a bright grin. ”They are trying to tear us apart Eddie my love! Suggesting that we would share couches with somebody else, bullshit I say!”

 

”Whatever,” Eddie said rolling his eyes before making his way to the living room.

 

* * *

 

 

Richie felt like this was an unofficial victory for him. He might not have have won the whole war yet, but he was slowly getting closer to it.

 

Stan, Bill and Mike had all agreed to share the biggest couch so Ben and Bev and Richie and eddie took the two smaller couches in Bill’s living room. Richie had nearly panicked when Stan had suggested that Eddie would share a couch with anybody else than him. There was absolutely _no_ way that either Bill or Stan for that matter was sharing a couch with his Eddie. It was a unsaid agreement between Eddie and Richie to sit next to each other when they watched a movie, whether it was down at the movie theatre or at one of their homes.

 

Richie was also satisfied by the fact that Eddie had allowed Richie to cuddle up against him without any protest. So Richie was comfortably sharing a blanket with eddie(even though there was enough for all of them to have their own) and he was leaning his head on Eddie’s shoulder with his hand around Eddie’s waist.

 

So yes, this was again one point for Richie.

 

”Richie I have to go to the bathroom,” Eddie whispered, not wanting to disturb the others. He tried to get up from the couch, but Richie let out a long whine and didn’t let go.

 

”Seriously, stop acting like such a fucking baby and let me go take a fucking piss,” Eddie tried to sound harsh but failed. Richie almost laughed at him, but nevertheless allowed the other boy to go to the bathroom.

 

Richie waited for about five minutes before following Eddie to the bathroom upstairs. He wasn’t entirely sure why he followed, or what he would do – he didn’t need to use the bathroom. None of his friends paid any attention to him though – except Stan who looked at him from the corer of his eye and Richie didn’t want to think about the look on his face too hard. It wasn’t excatly approving, as if he knew Richie wasn’t actually going to use the bathroom.

 

The bathroom door was still locked when Richie got upstairs, so he leaned on the wall opposite and started to think what the fuck was he doing. A part of him was yelling to just go back downstairs and leave Eddie alone for once in a while. It was screaming at him that he was really just being selfish and he should just let Eddie be happy with his girlfriend.

 

But then there was other part of him arguing with the other, saying that Richie could make Eddie just as happy as Allison could – if not even happier. He and Eddie had known each other since kindergarden for fucks sake. He and Eddie had something that Allison could only dream of having with Eddie. It wasn’t fair that Allison got to be the one to kiss and hug Eddie, when Richie had been there longer, he knew Eddie better and he cared about Eddie in a way he never cared about anyone else before.

 

The realisation hit him like a bullet. Richie had been trying to deny his jealousy, but now he could see that not only was he jealous, but… he was also inexplicably, kick-you-in-the-crotch, head over heels in love with Eddie Kaspbrak. Richie felt something warm spread inside him, before it was gone – like a bucket of cold water had been poured all over his insides.

 

He was in love with Eddie. He was fucking in love with his best friend. He was in love with his fucking best friend who was dating somebody else, and that somebody else just so happened to be a girl. So even if Eddie and Allison did break up someday, Richie didn’t necessarily have a chance even then. All the signs said that Eddie was straight. He wouldn’t feel the same way about Richie. Not now, not ever. Richie would just always be Eddie’s annoying, over-energetic best friend who was secretly in love with him.

 

Richie watched as the bathroom lock opened and the handle started to turn. Before Richie could react in any way, before Eddie got even out of the bathroom, somebody took a hols of Richie’s arm and dragged him into Georgie’s bedroom. Richie almost let out a panicked, but totally manly, shriek until he came face to face with Stan who held a finger to his lips, signalling Richie to shut the fuck up.

 

”If you wanted to get me alone Stan, you should’ve just asked,” Richie grumbled, not an ounce of humor in his voice.

 

Stan rolled his eyes. ”I’m not sure what the fuck you’re playing at Richie, but I’m telling you right now – stop it. Just accept the fact that Eddie is in a happy relationship and he doesn’t like you the way you like him, and move on.”

 

”Don’t you think I know that?” Richie snarled at his friend, who was glaring at him hard. ”I’m well aware that Eddie’s not in love with me, but I can’t help my feelings, god damnit.”

 

Stan’s expression softened a little bit and Richie wanted to cry. Saying it out loud was worse than thinking it. It felt more real when it wasn’t just inside him head.

 

”I get it Richie, but you just have to accept it-”

 

”You get it? How do you get it? No wait, of course you get it. Of course you and the perfect Bill Denbrough get it, because all this time you’ve been in love with Eddie too,” Richie accused and poked a finger on Stan’s chest, who now looked confused and a little worried.

 

”Richie what are you talking about? You’re not making any sense, Bill and I are not in love with Eddie,” Stan tried talking sense to his friend, but Richie wasn’t having it.

 

”I knew it all along. What’s next, Mike’s in love with Eddie too? Wouldn’t surprise me to be honest. Ben and Bev? Are they fucking just so they can ease the pain, knowing that Eddie will never love them back? Everybody is in love with Eddie, and you all are just trying to come between us! How do I know that Allison wasn’t just some big plan of yours, to keep Eddie and I apart?”

 

Mike stared at Richie with wide eyes for a long time. ”Oh my god, you’re actually losing it. Like for real, you’ve gone mad.”

 

Before Richie could answer, a voice called from downstairs. ”Are you two okay? What’s taking so long?” It was Bill. Of course it was Bill, it was always Bill.

 

”We’re fine!” Richie and Stan yelled back simultaneously.


	6. 6. your ass is almost as cute as your face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Imma just say that yall are dead

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with my super fast updating, yey! Next week you should probably be prepared that the updates won't be this frequent, I'll most likely update every 2-3 days, depends on how much time I've got.
> 
> Thank you thank you thank you for all of your supportive comments once again, they honestly keep me updating. And ya'll calling this your fave it fanfic? I'm honestly crying, cause like..??? thank you???? You know how to treat a girl well, you guys!!!

**6.**

 

Eddie wasn’t sure if anybody else noticed it, or even cared for that matter, but something had changed. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but ever since Richie and Stan had come back from doing whatever in upstairs that Friday, something in the atmosphere changed.

 

Or maybe it was just Eddie’s imagination. Maybe he read too much into the way Richie wouldn’t even glance at Stan anymore, talk about speaking to him for that matter. Stan however, kept stealing glances at Richie, with a worried expression, as if he wanted to catch the boy’s attention.

 

It made Eddie suspicious. What had happened upstairs? Eddie’s imagination ran wild with all the possibilities, but one stayed on Eddie’s mind. What if there was, or at least had been, something between Stan and Richie, more than friendship? What if they had gotten in a fight and now things were awkward for all of them. Well, Eddie wasn’t so sure about all of them, because he seemed like the only person to notice anything changing.

 

Thinking about Stan and Richie being… romantically involved made something in Eddie’s stomach turn and it wasn’t a pleasant feeling at all. He told himself it was just because he feared the group would fall apart because of this, but… was it really? It had to be.

 

Another thing that Eddie noticed was that Richie wasn’t necessarily only ignoring Stan anymore, but he was noticeably colder towards Bill now too. Like Bil had somehow offended him and not apologized and Richie just wanted him to taste his own medicine. Which was weird, because Richie, like every other member of their little club, somehow looked up to Bill.

 

”Are you okay?” Eddie asked Richie the next Thursday before homeroom started. Eddie had found Richie playing with Eddie’s locker again, and couldn’t keep himself from asking the question.

 

Richie looked at him with a wide grin. ”Now better than ever that you’re here Eddie Spaghetti.”

 

”I’m serious,” Eddie groaned.

 

”Oh, well hi Serious, I’m Richie,” Richie said and offered his hand for Eddie to shake, but Eddie pulled it down, giving Richie a pointed look.

 

”I honestly don’t know where you’re coming with that question,” Richie rolled his eyes. ”Why wouldn’t I be okay? Have I given you a reason to think I’m not?”

 

”Well not exactly, but-”

 

”Precisely, I’ve no idea where this interrogation is coming from,” Richie said and looked around him a little bit. ”So where’s your girlfriend? Wasn’t she supposed to come back by now? Or did her plane crash and she died a horrible death?”

 

”That’s so not funny. And now, her grandmother’s just sick, so they’ll be there at least another week,” Eddie said as they started to walk towards their homeroom.

 

”I bet she has another dude there, who fucks her real good. After all, you’re so afraid of aids that you can’t even pleasure her like a woman should be pleasured.”

 

”Wow, there you go again, being the funniest guy on the whole planet,” Eddie rolled his eyes, wondering why he puts up with this guy. _A real good question,_ he thought. _Why do I put up with the Trashmouth?_

 

”Now, but if you miss her all that much, I can be yyour substitute Allison until she comes back,” Richie offered and started talking with a high-pitched voice. ”Oh Eddie, your eyes are so pretty, like two pools of chocolate, and your face is just so cute, let me kiss it.”

 

Eddie backed away from Richie when the other boy started to make kissing faces at him, and despite the impression being his worst one ever(he didn’t even bother to try), Eddie still let out a laugh.

 

”That was horrible, she’s not like that,” Eddie shook his head, still smiling lightly.

 

And then out of nowhere, Richie went ahead and slapped Eddie on his ass, making the smaller boy yelp. ”You know Eds, your ass is almost as cute as your face, I can barely keep my hands off.”

 

”Now that’s more like Allison,” Eddie said and walked into their homeroom, where he noticed Bill and Stan already sitting next to each other, deep in conversation, their head close together and hands making movements. Eddie wondered what they were talking about so intensely.

 

”I wasn’t trying to be her anymore,” Richie joked and Eddie just rolled his eyes.

 

_Why do I put up with him, all I ever do is roll my eyes at him,_ Eddie thought again. Despite the thoughts, Eddie really couldn’t bring himself to picture a life where Richie wasn’t involved. _I guess that’s what happens when you spend too much time with him._

 

Eddie took the seat behind Bill, despite Richie trying to get him sit with him somewhere else. Eddie however, didn’t listen to Richie, so the other boy was forced to sit next to Stan and look deeply uncomfortable. As soon as Eddie and Richie had sat down, Bill and Stan turned around to face them(at the exact same time as well).

 

”Hey Eddie, hey Richie,” Stan greeted in an overly happy voice, one that wasn’t natural for Stan. Eddie instantly felt uncomfortable and worried and as if something was being kept from him.

 

”Hi,” he said slowly, narrowing his eyes a little, while Richie just gave a small wave and didn’t even look at the two other boys.

 

”Do you t-t-two want to c-come to the B-b-barrens today with us?” Bill asked. ”If A-allison is back i-in Derry again, sh-she could c-come too-”

 

”Oh too bad Big Bill, Allison’s still stuck in DC,” Richie said suddenly, his voice even louder than usual. ”And besides, Eddie and I kind of made plans already, so maybe some other time.”

 

Eddie gave Richie a funny look. The hadn’t made any plans. This did nothing but confirm Eddie’s suspicions that something was wrong between Richie and his other friends, and he needed to figure out what.

 

”Well there’s no reason why you can’t join us at the Barrens. Bev and Ben are coming too,” Stan said, the happy tone in his voice never faltering.

 

”Yeah, I bet Ben’s coming, probably way quicker than Bev,” Richie snorted despite himself, but soon his face went blank again as he looked away from Stan, who almost looked hopeful already.

 

Eddie frowned a little as he looked back and forth between Richie and Stan and Bill. ”Uh, can you guys tell me what’s going on? I’m a little confused.”

 

”W-what do you m-mean?” Bill asked, acting as though he seriously didn’t know.

 

Before Eddie could open his mouth again, the teacher came into the classroom and Eddie missed his chance to interrogate his friends.

 

* * *

 

 

”I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Stan told Eddie as they were walking towards their biology class.

 

There was absolutely no point in trying to ask Richie what was going on. Anytime Eddie tried, Richie would either make a joke or he would change the subject quickly, and at this point, Eddie was too tired to even try again. He had trusted that Stan would tell him, but no such luck.

 

”Could you all not act like I’m an idiot,” Eddie snapped a little too harshly. ”I do notice when there’s something going on, okay?”

 

Stan was quiet for a while. He looked like he was debating whether or not to be honest with Eddie, and that nearly made Eddie angry. Why would his friends even think about lying to him?

 

”In all honesty, you should ask Richie, and if he doesn’t tell you, you should just respect that and let it be. Richie and I just talked on Friday, and while I wasn’t trying to make a fight, Richie obviously took some things the wrong way. You shouldn’t worry about it too much, you know Richie, he can’t stay mad long,” Stan said, giving Eddie a reassuring smile.

 

_Okay, that sounds believable enough, I trust it to be true,_ Eddie thought.

 

”Can you try to be any more vague?” Eddie asked jokingly, making Stan let out a small laugh. However, Eddie decided that maybe he really just should let it be.

 

* * *

 

 

Richie showing up at Eddie’s house unannounced was nothing new. When they were younger he used to do it every day, and when they got older Richie didn’t do it that often anymore, but it never really stopped. That’s why Richie climbing through Eddie’s open window shouldn’t have surprised Eddie as much as it did.

 

Richie had mentioned something about hanging out, but Eddie had figured he would just call first. _Guess not then._

 

”So sweet of you to leave the window open for me Eds,” Richie grinned. ”Almost as if you were expecting me.”

 

”I was expecting you to call me, not break into my room,” Eddie answered while typing a text to Allison.

 

”If you didn’t want hot guys to break into your room, you shouldn’t leave your window open,” Richie said and laid down next to Eddie on his bed.

 

”No hot guy has ever broken into my room, thank god,” Eddie muttered, not taking his eyes off his phone’s screen. Richie leaned in a little to see what Eddie was typing, before taking the phone out of Eddie’s hands before Eddie could press send.

 

”Hey!” he protested, but Richie was already going through their conversations. ”That’s an invasion of privacy, you dick.”

 

”Please Eddie, there’s no privacy between us,” Richie just said while scrolling through their messages. ”God these are so sappy. I’m almost glad I’m not in a relationship.”

 

”But only almost?” Eddie asked, as Richie gave his phone back. Eddie figured that maybe it was just better to tell Allison that Richie was there now and he would have to end the conversation here.

 

”Yeah, only almost,” Richie answered absentmindedly, staring at Eddie’s ceiling as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world.

 

”So you would maybe want a relationship with somebody?” Eddie pried, not sure why he cared. Yet, thinking about Richie actually liking someone in a romantic way… it was a new sensation. Not exactly pleasant. Maybe Eddie had just gotten so used to Richie always being single and only joking about sex, but never actually(supposedly) doing anything.

 

_What do I know about Richie’s sex life? Maybe he’s slept with helf of the school’s girls, maybe he’s not just fucking around when he talks about sex._

 

Thinking about made Eddie almost feel sick. Again, he told himself he was just afraid that maybe Richi being romantically, or sexually, involved with somebody would come between their friendship, not only Richie and Eddie’s, but the whole groups.

 

_God, did Richie feel like this when Allison and I started dating? Probably not. He’s not like that._

 

”Well not with anybody,” Richie said, almost immediately. ”There’s only one person.”

 

”Oh, so you like somebody huh?” Eddie asked, swallowing a little.

 

”Yeah, I guess, sort of. But, um, that person doesn’t feel the same way, so you won’t have to worry Eds!” the sort of downcast tone in Richie’s voice was gone as soon as it came. ”You won’t have to worry about fighting for my attention, because it’s all reserved just for you!”

 

Eddie felt like his face was heating up. Was it really that hot in his room. ”And the rest of our friends, right?”

 

”Well, I guess they can get some Richie lovin’ as well if they ask kindly, but you are my number one priority!” Richie looked at Eddie and his grin widened(was that even possible?). ”Oh my god, is my little Eddie blushing?”

 

Richie leaned over to pinch Eddie’s cheeks and Eddie slapped his hands away. ”Stop it you dickbag.”

 

”I can’t help it if you’re cute,” Richie said and let his head fall on Eddie’s pillow. ”You have some soft pillows Eddie boy, did you know that.”

 

”I guess,” Eddie hummed. ”Are we gonna go to the Barrens or…?”

 

Richie shook his head. ”I’m comfortable here, why would I want to move? Your bed is a much better place to spend my free time than Barrens.”

 

Eddie wanted to ask if Richie was purposely avoiding Stan and Bill, and the rest of their friends, or not. He really did want to, but then he remembered what Stan said. If Richie doesn’t want to tell, then Eddie should respect that. It wasn’t Eddie’s business.

 

So instead of asking Richie what he really wanted to ask, he blurted out something incredibly stupid.

 

”Is the person you like Stan?” Eddie hadn’t even thought about his words before they fell out of his mouth, and he widened his eyes as Richie sat up to stare at him with confused eyes. He hadn’t meant to say that. He had wanted to change the topic, god damnit.

 

”Why would you ask that? What makes you think I like him?” Richie asked, sounding almost… angry? Hurt? Confused? All three? Eddie wasn’t sure.

 

”Sorry, I don’t know what came over me, I swear I didn’t mean to ask that,” Eddie put raised his hands a little, as a sign of surrendering.

 

Richie pursed his lips. ”No it’s not Stan,” he muttered.

 

”Is it Allison?” _Fuck why did I say that?_ Eddie started to debate whether or not it was a good idea to just rip his tongue out then and there so he would be able too shut up for five minutes.

 

_Why do I even care? It’s his life, it doesn’t have anything to do with me._

 

Richie was quiet for a second, and Eddie prepared himself for the worst. _Oh my god, he’s actually going to say he likes Allison. Then our friendship is ruined forever._ Richie stared at eddie for a long time, not saying anything. Eddie almost commented that Richie has never been this quiet for this long, but he didn’t have enough time before Richie had leaned in and kissed him square on the lips.

 

_Oh._

 


	7. 7. I'm an asshole like that

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I mean,,,,,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was supposed to study for my chemistry exam, but he anything to procrastinate. Literally the fastest update anybody has ever done, holy shiz
> 
> dunno when the next chapter is up, maybe I'll keep yall in suspense for a week, lmao

**7.**

 

Richie might have just made the biggest mistake of his life. But he couldn’t help himself. Eddie trying to guess who he liked, even daring to belive it was _Allison_ out of all people, made Richie so frustrated that he just had to tell Eddie the truth.

 

The only problem was that he couldn’t get the words out of his mouth. He wanted to tell Eddie thathe was in love with him, god dammit, and it wasn’t his fault that it took this long for him to figure it out. So he did the next best thing and kissed Eddie. He knew it was wrong and that he shouldn’t put Eddie in that situation. He knew he was being selfish and almost cruel towards Eddie, and he hated himself for being that person.

 

And when he finally pulled away from Eddie to catch air, Eddie didn’t say anything. He was quiet and his mouth was open slightly and Richie hated himself even more for not having any self-control – he had to kiss Eddie again.

 

And it wasn’t like Eddie was pushing him away – after a while Eddie even started to kiss him back, so Richie figured that what he was doing might be wrong, but what Eddie was doing was also wrong, so it didn’t matter that much right? Eddie’s hands were on Richie’s shoulders, as if he had planned to push Richie away, but had decided against it. Richie put his hands on either side of Eddie’s face, pulling his even closer and deepening the kiss, and oh god, Richie thought that if he had to spend the rest of his life somewhere, it would be right here.

 

The loud, nagging voice at the back of his head saying that this was wrong, and he needed to stop and apologize to Eddie sounded an awful lot like Stan, and after it finally was gone Richie could relax. Richie wasn’t sure if either one of them had noticed, but soon enough they were both laying down on Eddie’s bed, Richie on top, and Richie thought _Okay, let’s just roll with it._

 

”Richie,” Eddie said, his grip on Richie’s shoulders tightening, but not pushing him away, as Richie found himself kissing down Eddie’s neck. ”Richie,” he repeated, a little more firmly, and Richie rested his head on the crook of Eddie’s neck.

 

”I love you,” he mumbled, not sure if Eddie could hear or understand what he said, but then again, he didn’t really care either. He had said it, and he could repeat it if Eddie wanted him to, but it was Eddie’s reaction he was most afraid of.

 

”What?” Eddie asked quietly.

 

”I love you,” he repeated, this time a little more clearly, and the way Eddie’s hands on his shoulders tightened even more made it clear that this time he heard him.

 

* * *

 

 

Eddie remembered the day he met Richie Tozier. He was about five years old and in kindergarten when Richie had swooped in behind him, stolen his legos, claimed them for himself and decided that they were friends now. That was nearly twelve years ago.

 

And now, now Eddie found himself laying on his bed, with said Richie Tozier laying on top of him, staring at him with an unreadable expression. For once in his life, Richie’s face was completely serious, maybe even a little bit sad.

 

”Fuck,” Richie cursed and rolled off Eddie and next to him, covering his face with his hands.

 

Eddie didn’t know what to say. He just couldn’t go and say it back, especially if he didn’t feel the same way. He had a girlfriend. He didn’t feel that way about Richie. He had Allison.

 

 _Then why did I kiss him back?_ Eddie thought miserably, finally realizing that he had in fact, just pretty much cheated on Allison. Great. He was _that_ guy. _I kissed him back because I miss Allison, I miss her and I haven’t kissed anybody in a while. A withdrawal symptom. I didn’t kiss Richie because I wanted to kiss_ Richie _, but because…_

 

It was really no use lying to himself, Eddie realized. He kissed Richie back because he wanted to and that’s that. But he didn’t love Richie… did he? As a friend, yes, totally. But as more than a friend? No, he couldn’t.

 

”I’m sorry,” Richie let out from behind his hands, his voice sounding like he was crying. ”I really shouldn’t have done that, what the fuck is wrong with me?”

 

”There’s nothing wrong with you Richie. I probably shouldn’t have kissed you back, it’s my fault too,” Eddie mumbled and stared at the ceiling. Well, I guess he now had some what an explanation to why Richie had been acting weird.

 

Richie took his hands off his face and wiped the remains of his tears away. ”I probably skrewed our entire friendship up now. I’m sorry, but I… really can’t help it. I guess I just didn’t realize it until… until that _bitch_ -” Eddie tried not to flinch when Richie called Allison a bitch. ”came along. And now everything just sucks. Stan told me to get over it like a million times, but whast does he know, he’s an asshole.”

 

Eddie stayed quiet. What the fuck was he supposed to say to that? He couldn’t tell Richie he was sorry. It wasn’t exactly his fault Richie had realized all of this after Eddie and Allison started dating. Eddie just wanted to say something, anything, to make Richie feel better, but was there anything to say?

 

Richie turned on his side to stare at Eddie. He didn’t look like he was expecting Eddie to answer him, and Eddie was grateful for that. Instead Eddie just did his best wrapping his arms around Richie’s neck and hugged him tight, hoping that Richie wouldn’t hate him.

 

* * *

 

Richie wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but seeing Allison back in school, kissing Eddie made his heart burn ten times more than it used to. Maybe it was because Eddie knew how Richie felt. Maybe it was because a week ago, it had been Richie kissing Eddie, and Eddie had kissed him back. Maybe it was both, but all Richie knew for sure was that he couldn’t even stand the sight of Allison anymore.

 

He didn’t blame Eddie, he really didn’t. He blamed himself, and when he got tired of all the self-hate, he started blaming Allison and planning on an effectiveway to slaughter her without causing too many suspicions.

 

”You still mad at me Richie?” A voice came from behind Richie, and he recognized it as Stan. Not taking his eyes off Eddie and his girlfriend, Richie shook his head quietly.

 

Was it just his or did Eddie not look as happy as he was supposed to? It had been two weeks since he and his dear girlfriend last saw each other, shouldn’t he be smiling at least a little wider? Richie didn’t want to think too much about the way Eddie’s smile didn’t reach his eyes as he listened to Allison talk, or how he just let out silent hums and chuckles as he listened to Allison talk.

 

Eddie was probably just overthinking the way he had cheated on Allison and now he didn’t deserve to be with her anymore. He was probably wondering whether or not he should tell her, knowing it would be the right thing to do, but afraid of what it would do to their relationship.

 

”No, I could never stay mad at you for too long Stanny boy!” Richie turned around to look at Stan with a fake grin. Stan raised his eyebrows and glanced behind Richie where Allison and Eddie were talking.

 

”Still getting over it?” Stan asked, and Richie knew he had to tell him. He just had to tell somebody about what happened.

 

”Fuck,” Richie cursed and took Stan’s hand, leading him into an empty, dark classroom. ”I fucked up.”

 

Stan looked at him in confusion. ”What did you do Richie?” he asked carefully, a stern expression forming on his face.

 

”I sort of, maybe kissed him,” Richie admitted and Stan’s eyes went wide. ”And he sort of maybe, kissed me back.”

 

Stan stared at him in shock for a while, his mouth opening and closing. It was almost comical watching Stan try figuring out what kid of lecture he was going to give Richie.

 

”Well aren’t you going to start preching me about how disrespectful I am, or are you going to just stare at me like some god damn goldfish for the rest of the day? Cause I’m in no hurry,” Richie said and sat down on one of the desks and lit up a cigarette while he was at it.

 

”He- he actually kissed you back? He kissed you back?” Stan asked.

 

”That’s what I just said Stuttering Bill,” Richie shrugged and took a drag of his cigarette. ”Probably surprised the both of us, but hey, I wasn’t complaining about it at that time. Was sort of hoping to maybe get lucky even.” Richie really didn’t want to show Stan how much this all was affecting him. He really didn’t want to see those pitiful eyes again.

 

”Is he gonna tell Allison?” Stan asked, and Richie shrugged again. ”He has to, right?”

 

”Not my problem what he does,” Richie answered, still pretending he didn’t care. He probably didn’t do very good job thought.

 

* * *

 

 

Eddie stared at Allison as she talked to him about all the things she did in DC. He really wasn’t listening, and but Allison didn’t seem to notice.

 

Currently they were in his room, laying on his bed, where a week ago Eddie had been with Richie. That seemed to have been all Eddie had been able to think about since that day, and much to his displeasure, Richie didn’t seem too keen on talking about it with him. In fact, Richie didn’t seem too keen on talking about anything with Eddie now. They had come to some sort of mutual understanding after what happened, but Richie had told him that he wanted space for a while. That all of this was just too painful for him, and Eddie couldn’t blame him. He would feel the same in his position.

 

But that didn’t stop Eddie from thinking about it. How kissing Richie felt so much different to kissing Allison, and not in a bad way. How Richie’s hands on the side of his face had been surprisingly gentle, and Eddie really hadn’t wanted for him to let go. It didn’t matter that Allison was here now, because all he was thinking about was-

 

”You’re really not listening to me anymore,” Allison laughed, not even sounding mad. Instead she just played with his fingers with a soft smile.

 

”Sorry,” Eddie mumbled. ”A lot on my mind right now.”

 

”Has it something to do with Richie?” Eddie had told Allison that Richie was avoiding him, but hadn’t mentioned the kiss. He knew he had to, at some point, but he really couldn’t bring himself to say the words _hey I cheated on you with my best friend, who is in love with me and who has been pretending to like you for a while now, isn’t that just swell?_ Yeah, he didn’t want to see Allison’s reaction to that.

 

”Yeah, sort of, yes, definitely,” Eddie sighed, taking his hand out of Allison’s. ”Look, I need to tell you something.” Eddie sat up on his bed so he could look at her in the eyes, and Allison did the same.

 

”Oh my god, are we opening up about our fetishes now?” Allison tried to lighten up the mood, just like Richie always did, but Eddie wasn’t even sure if she knew something bad was going to happen.

 

”I’m serious.”

 

”Well then, just spill it. It can’t be that bad,” Allison laughed.

 

Eddie was quiet for a moment, looking away from her. ”Richie’s ignoring me because… we… Richie and I kissed.”

 

Eddie stole a look at Allison’s face, which was now blank. She was biting her lip, not saying anything, until she let out a small nervous laugh.

 

”As a dare, right? Like, as in kind of as a joke?” She asked with a small grimace.

 

Eddie shook his head. ”No,” he said in a quiet tone. ”He just did it and I kissed him back, because I’m an asshole like that, and now everything’s fucked up.”

 

”You’re not an asshole Eddie,” Allison sighed. ”If you were an asshole, you wouldn’t have told me and then proceeded to do it again behind my back, until one day I would walk in on you tw making out. It was a one time mistake. It’s something that can normally be forgiven, but...”

 

”But?” Eddie really didn’t want to know where this was going. He really, really didn’t.

 

”But it’s really so painfully obvious that he’s in love with you, and I know that’s why he did it. It’s really a miracle you didn’t notice it before. And I know that you kissed him back because… you feel the same way,” Allison said and the look on her face wasn’t angry or hurt, just sad. ”Maybe you haven’t even realized it yourself. And maybe you should think through it the best you can, but I really don’t want to be the girl who came between you two.”

 

It took twenty minutes for Eddie to realize that he just got dumbed, but he didn’t even feel sad about it.


	8. 8. Hey, i have your trash, but can I take you out?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yall dead yet?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really don't have anything better to do with my life, so here's this shit. Honestly thought I would spend my night doing something else, but hey I'm productive.
> 
> Again, thank you for the lovely comments and all the kudos!

**8.**

"Are you kidding me?" Bev asked in incredulous tone as Eddie told her what happened.

 

Eddie hadn't told anyone else yet, and Bev was always the one you went to when you had this sort of problems. Well, it technically wasn't a problem anymore now, was it? But Bev was easy to talk to, she was a good listener, and gave good advice. It felt more natural telling her than telling somebody else.

 

"Yeah," Eddie nodded. "I can't believe she even dated me if she was so sure I'm in love with Richie."

 

"Maybe she hoped you'll learn to love her as well," Bev suggested, before becoming quiet for a second. "Are you... in love with Richie?"

 

Eddie hadn't thought about it. Was he? He knew he _loved_ Richie, the same way Bev loved Richie and how Bill loved Richie, but was Eddie _in love_ with Richie? He didn't know. He figured he had been so caught up in Allison that he had nearly forgotten Richie for a moment. In Eddie's defense, Richie himself had realized it just recently, so was it that bad that Eddie didn't know at the moment?

 

But then again, wasn't not knowing an answer enough? Shouldn't love be something that you know without having to think too much about it, without any hesitation? Or was he just that stupid when it came to romance?

 

"I don't know Bev," Eddie put his head into his hands. "It's all so complicated. Everything was fine before Richie went and kissed me and made me doubt every single thing I thought I knew about myself. Am I straight? I thought so, but straight guys don't go kissing other guys back. Am I in love with Richie? Who knows. Do I even have romantic feelings for him? Yeah, I gues-" Eddie shut his mouth as he realized what he was saying.

 

Bev was staring at him with wide eyes, but a small grin was playing on her lips. ”So you like him, yes?”

 

”It’s so complicated” Eddie groaned and hid his face with his hands. ”I… it’s complicated. Like now that he’s been basically ignoring me for a while, all I’ve been able to think about is how much I miss him and I don’t even care that Allison broke up with me, because Richie’s not talking to me and I just want to be around him, but I get it if he doesn’t want to talk to me, but I want to talk to him, because life without him sucks...”

 

”Well that was a little confusing answer,” Bev said with a chuckle and lit up a cigarette, making Eddie frown a little. ”Do you mind?”

 

Eddie shook his head and went to open his window so he wouldn’t have to breathe the smoke(and so his mother wouldn’t smell it).

 

”Maybe I was just so caught up in Allison I don’t know. Like the first girl who ever liked me,” Eddie shrugged.

 

”Oh please Eddie, I’m sure a loads of girls have had crushes on you before, but none of them were confident enough to admit it,” Bev assured him, but Eddie knew she was just trying to make him feel a little bit better.

 

”Well, let’s think about it this way,” Bev said after a while, throwing the cigarette out of the window. ”Do you always look forward to seeing him? Do you miss him when he’s gone?”

 

”I already said yes to those things!” Eddie groaned. ”Yes and yes. It’s awfully quiet and boring when he’s not here.”

 

”Do you get butterflies when he’s near or touches you?”

 

”Oh my god Bev, I’m not some twelve year old girl!” Eddie shrieked. ”But yeah… I mean, I hate it when he has to be so touchy, but when he’s not touchy it bothers me, because that means somethings wrong, and if something’s wrong with him, I just want to fix it and, oh my god, I am sounding like a twelve year old girl.”

 

”There’s nothing wrong with twelve year old girls,” Bev noted, thinking about how she was twelve when she became friends with the group. ”So you don’t like it when he touches you?”

 

”Well I didn’t mean that exactly! I mean, I don’t like it when he pinches my cheeks, it makes me feel like I’m a child, but I’d rather have him touch me than anyone else. It’s weird. And I also hated it when he makes these immature jokes and thinks he’s so funny, but like, he is funny, and I don’t want him _not_ making those jokes, because he wouldn’t be Richie if he didn’t make those jokes, and Richie is like… the best person it the world and I hate everything,” Eddie whined, making Beverly laugh.

 

”Thanks a lot,” Beverly sighed. ”But I guess you just need to think through it.”

 

* * *

 

”Richie!” Richie heard the familiar girly voice coming from behind him, and his first instinct was to fasten his pace as he walked towards his next class. He really didn’t want to deal with Allison Greene out of all people. Not right now, not ever.

 

”Hey,” Allison out her hand on his shoulder as she finally caught up with him. ”Have you seen Eddie anywhere?”

 

”Isn’t he _your_ boyfriend? Shouldn’t _you_ know it a little better than I do?” Richie snapped a little too harshly, and much to his dismay, Allison didn’t seem one bit offended. In fact, she looked a little amused by his outburst.

 

”Oh, so you haven’t heard the news?” Allison asked him, sounding genuinely surprised.

 

”What news?”

 

Allison smirked a little. ”Eddie and I broke up. Four days ago in fact, I’d figured that he would’ve told you already and… well it doesn’t matter.”

 

Richie felt his eyebrows disappear behind his hair after he heard it. He wasn’t even sure if he heard it correctly, because Allison and eddie broken up? The world couldn’t love him this much. There was no way a miracle like that could’ve happened, not to him.

 

”So you don’t know where he is?” Allison asked, and Richie shook his head.

 

”So if you’ve broken up, why do you want to find him?” Richie asked, trying hard not to sound too happy, but he probably failed horribly.

 

 _Fuck, I’m a horrible person_ , he thought.

 

”Oh, there’s just some stuff he left at my house, and I have them with me, if he wants them back...” Allison shrugged, before looking at Richie curiously. ”Perhaps you’d want to take them to him? After all, it’s _so_ awkward to talk to your ex after a break up, and I don’t know if I’m strong enough to face him yet, not without bursting into tears...”

 

Richie could tell Allison was exaggerating, but he didn’t really care. Of course he would take Eddie’s things out of her hands, that would mean Eddie and Allison wouldn’t have to interact ever again. Right?

 

_I really am, insanely horrible person._

 

”Yeah, sure, of course I’ll take them to him.”

 

Allison beamed. ”Great, I’ll bring them to you after school.”

 

Richie couldn’t help but grinning widely. Finally things were looking good for him. Sure maybe Eddie wasn’t ready to start a new relationship immediately after breaking up with Allison, hell he probably didn’t even want a relationship with Richie, but… It was something.

 

”Why are you smiling so widely?” Stan asked as he and Bill sat down next to Richie in English class.

 

”Just thought of your mom and what we did last night,” Richie said, still smiling. ”Man, she is loud...”

 

”Shut up Richie,” Stan rolled his eyes. ”But I see you’re back to your old self. Can’t say whether I’m relieved or a little put down.”

 

”Well if you’re down, just ask Bill how to get it up, he’ll help you,” Richie said, and burst out laughing immediately.

 

Both Bill and Stan’s faces were completely red after he said that. ”B-beep beep, Ri-richie,” Bill muttered.

 

* * *

 

 

As Richie stood behind Eddie’s door with a box full of his stuff that Allison had given to him, he started to have some serious second thoughts. What was he even going to say? They hadn’t talked in a long time and Richie just decides to appear behind Eddie’s door? It was doomed to be awkward.

 

 _Hey, I know it’s been a while since we talked, but your ex gave me all your stuff so here you go, can I eat your face now?_ Yeah, he couldn’t say that.

 

 _Hey, not talking to you has been a real pain in the ass, but if all goes well tonight, I get to be pain in_ your _ass._ Eddie would probably not even let him in if he said that.

 

 _Hey, I have your trash, but can I take_ you _out?_ That could actually work. Richie reached over and knocked on the door, praying that it wouldn’t be Mrs Kaspbrak who opens the door.

 

He heard slow steps on the stairs and some shuffling and soon the door opened to reveal Eddie, wrapped in a thick blanket, looking tired as hell.

 

”Richie? What the hell are you doing here?” he asked, his voice a little weak and Richie wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around Eddie and hug him.

 

”Hey did you know that penguins mate for life? Want to be my penguin?” he asked before he could stop himself and immediately cursed. ”Sorry, sorry. Allison gave me your shit and told to bring them to you.”

 

”Oh,” Eddie said and reached over to pick up the box in his own hands. Richie’s heart almost dropped. Was Eddie that broken up over the break up? Shit he just messed everything up.

 

Richie gave the box to Eddie who stared at it for a while.

 

”Do you want to come in?” he asked, and Richie nodded quickly.

 

”Yeah, yeah sure, whatever.”

 

Eddie let Richie in and they went to Eddie’s room immediately, Eddie hugging the box close to him the entire time. Richie stole a peek into the living room, and was surprised to see that Mrs Kspbrak was nowhere to be seen.

 

”Um, so where’s your mom? Has she been missing me?” Richie asked.

 

Eddie let out a quiet chuckle. ”Running some errands. Just left in fact, so she won’t be here for a while,” Eddie said and put the box away. He sat on his bed and Richie hesitated for a moment, but sat down next to him anyway. The last time he had been on that bed… well let’s not think about the last time he was on that bed.

 

”So… do you want to talk about it?” Richie asked, trying not to sound too eager to figure out why Eddie had broken up with the girl of his dreams.

 

”About what?” Eddie asked.

 

”About the thing why I just brought you that box?”

 

Eddie was quiet for a moment, but then shrugged. ”We broke up. Wasn’t that bad, for my first break up. It wasn’t like we were fighting, we just… broke up.”

 

Richie didn’t want to ask why. ”Are you gonna tell me why?” he croaked out.

 

”I told her about… what happened,” Eddie bit his lip and laughed a little bit. It wasn’t a bitter laugh, much to Richie’s surprise, and it did have some humor behind it. ”She said she wasn’t even surprised. Apparently she had known the entire time that you… and well she just said that it was just a matter of time before I-” Eddie didn’t continue. He just shut his mouth and stayed quiet for a while, pursing his lips.

 

”Before you what?” Richie asked, again trying to not sound too hopeful.

 

”Nothing,” Eddie shook his head.

 

Richie just stared at him for a while. Would it be totally inappropriate to kiss Eddie now? Probably yes. Wouldn’t that kind of be like taking advantage of someone grieving? If you can call what Eddie was doing grieving, but he was certainly sad over it.

 

”Honestly I’m not even sad over it,” Eddie said. ”I’m really not, which is kind of weird. Shouldn’t I be sad? I mean, I liked her, didn’t I? And she broke up with me, you’d think I was sad.”

 

”Then what is this? You weren’t at school today,” Richie noted, having some hard time believing that Eddie wasn’t actually sad over the break up.

 

”Oh, I’m pretending to be sick today,” Eddie answered like it was nothing. ”Kind of relaxing actually.”

 

”And your mom didn’t take you immediately to hospital to see whether or not you have aids, cancer, ebola or all three combined?”

 

Eddie actually let out a laugh, and Richie couldn’t even remember when was the last time he had heard Eddie laugh. It felt like a distant memory, but Richie was glad he could hear it again now.

 

”I convinced her it was just a sore throat and a little fever,” Eddie shrugged. ”So why did Allison make you come bring my stuff to me?”

 

”Because she wasn’t strong enough to face you herself.”

 

”Mh, right,” Eddie snorted.

 

”No, she really said that. She’s not the most convincing actress though,” Richie said. ”It was kind of weird, if she knew we kissed, you’d think she would have been at least a little mad at me.”

 

”She’s chill.”

 

”I almost hated her for no reason.”

 

Eddie was quiet for a while. ”Why did you hate her?” he asked finally, and Richie knew Eddie knew the answer.

 

”Because I’m in love with you,” Richie answered, without hesitation, this time not afraid. It was true, and he knew it, Eddie knew it, apparently Allison knew it, and there was no hiding it.

 

Eddie was quiet again, looking as though he was in deep thought. Richie wanted to do something, kiss him, but he knew he couldn’t do that. He hated that he couldn’t do that.

 

 

”Listen, I know you’re not in love with me, but-” he started to say, but was soon cut off by Eddie’s lips brushing gently against his. The kiss wasn’t long, it ended as soon as it started, but it was enough to leave Richie holding his breath, and once again, speechless.

 

_How is it, that everytime I’m left without words, it’s with this idiot?_

 

They sat quietly for a while, just staring at each other. Eddie seemed just as surprised by the action as Richie did, if not even more. Richie wasn’t sure what this meant. Did Eddie like him? Like, romantically like him? If he didn’t, why would he kiss him?

 

Again, Richie’s train of thought was cut off as Eddie’s lips touched his again, this time a little more firmly, and a little longer. Just as Eddie was about to pull away again, Richie put his hands on either side of Eddie’s face, pulling his back closer.

 

Maybe it was the fact that this time Richie didn’t feel at least a little bit guilty about kissing Eddie, or maybe it was the fact that this time he was sure that Eddie wanted to kiss him too, but the kiss was even better than the first one they shared together. It was gentle, yet passionate, and Richie decided that he could literally die then and there and he wouldn’t even mind. It was euphoric – better than cigarettes, even more addictive.

 

Richie even felt brave and licked his tongue on Eddie’s lower lip, and in his surprise(this day really was full of surprises), Eddie opened his mouth without hesitation. Soon Richie realized that they were again laying on Eddie’s bed, again Richie on top, and the moment was perfect – until Richie put his hands on Eddie’s waist and Eddie started squirming and giggling.

 

”Fuck, that tickles, don’t so that you dickhole,” Eddie hissed, but he was smiling.

 

”Damn, did you call Allison too a dickhole when she kissed you? Cause I don’t know about her, but that’s a total turn on,” Richie said, and Eddie slapped him gently on the shoulder. ”But seriously, how did I not know that your ticklish? How dare you not share this with me sooner?”

 

”Yes, I wonder why I didn’t tell this to you,” Eddie rolled his eyes. ”Because I’m sure you wouldn’t totally take advantage of the knowledge.”

 

Richie fakes a dramatic gasp. ”I’m insulted that you even consider that I would do such thing! I would never.”

 

”Right,” Eddie scoffed and leaned in to kiss Richie again, but this time Richie leaned back, making Eddie pout. Richie grinned at the sight of it. _Cute._

 

”So you like me or are you just taking advantage of my pretty face?”

 

”I’m just taking advantage of your pretty gullible face,” Eddie said with a blank stare. ”After this I want you out of my life.”

 

”It’s always the pretty ones that get taken advantage of,” Richie sniffed and leaned down to kiss Eddie again.


	9. 9. That's gay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the angst makes a small return and disappears immediately after, because god forbid I write anything that's 100% rainbows and sunshine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> en liten chapter från mig till dig(I'm not Swedish, that was barely even Swedish, lol)
> 
> I seriously love you and all your comments make me squeal and blush and my life has no other meaning than reading your comments, I swear to god.

**9.**

 

”So are you two a thing now?” Mike asked Richie as the whole losers club were hanging out at the Barrens the next weekend. Richie and Mike were sitting down, leaning on a tree behind them, watching as Beverly and Ben did their best to throw grass at Eddie and Stan, who were having none of it.

 

Richie shrugged. ”We didn’t really talk about it. We’ve mostly been kissing, which is great. And holding hands. And kissing a little bit more.”

 

Richie watched in amusement as Eddie stomped off to join him and Mike at the tree, sitting down next to Richie and leaning his head on his shoulder. For some reason, every time Eddie would come even near Richie, hold his hand, or hug him Richie was pleasantly surprised, as if he was expecting Eddie to freak out about the whole thing and not talk to him anymore. Other thing Richie had also realized, was the fact that Eddie made his heart beat ten times faster, which felt like a huge cliche to Richie, but he wasn’t complaining.

 

”Would it be a totally dick move to just push Bev and Ben head first into the grey water?” Eddie asked with an adorable little pout.

 

”I don’t think they would appreciate it,” Mike laughed and the tree of them watched as Ben was making a flower crown, with Beverly’s eyes glued to his every move. ”You can’t deny that they are cute though.”

 

”Oh please, Eds and I are way cuter,” Richie scoffed playfully and put his arm around Eddie’s waist. ”And we can thank this little guy for it. He makes up for like 74,5% of our overall cuteness.”

 

Eddie tried to hide his blush by hiding his face into Richie’s neck. ”You smell funny.”

 

”It’s your mom’s perfume, it rubbed off on me earlier.”

 

”My mom doesn’t wear any perfume,” Eddie spoke into his neck. ”She thinks it’ll just put my allergies in motion.”

 

”So what you’re saying is that your mother’s natural scent is that pleasing,” Richie gasped. ”It must run in the family then.”

 

Eddie slapped Richie on his arm gently and lifted his head up from Richie’s neck. ”Beep beep, Richie,” he muttered and turned his head to look over to Stan, who was sitting on the grass, now joined by Bill, who also was throwing grass at Stan. Only this time, Stan didn’t seem to mind as much. ”I don’t get it, he was just complaining about it, and now he doesn’t mind,” Eddi shook his head and scoffed.

 

Richie snorted. ”That’s gay.”

 

”Just because you’re gay Richie, doesn’t mean everybody suddenly is,” Mike rolled his eyes, but laughed good-heartedly. ”Put I guess I can see it too...”

 

”Stan just told me yesterday how he is totally straight,” Eddie said. ”So I’m pretty sure they’re just friends, and both totally straight-”

 

”Oh please, so is spaghetti until it gets all hot and wet,” Richie rolled his eyes, before smirking lightly. ”Ain’t that right, Eddie Spaghetti?”

 

”Beep beep, Richie,” Both Mike and Eddie said at the same time.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Maybe Richie was being a little silly at this point. But for some reason, seeing Eddie and Allison talking in the school hallway as if they were the best of friends, still made it feel like someone was squeezing his heart and lighting matches into his lungs.

 

He knew it was stupid. Eddie had assured him many times by now – he and Allison had decided to stay friends, because they enjoyed each others company. There was nothing to worry about. Allison understood how Richie felt about Eddie, she accepted that in the end Eddie would have chosen Richie anyway, whether or not she had dumped him first.

 

But there was still something, _something_ , in the way that Allison leaned a little too close to Eddie when she laughed, or the way Eddie picked a fallen eyelash from her cheek that Richie couldn’t just shake off.

 

 _It’s stupid, stupid,_ Richie assured himself. _Eddie likes me, not her, he said so._

 

And then there was that little voice at the back of his head that always whispered to him when he was at his worst: _Did he ever actually say that he liked you? Or did you just assume he does?_

 

Richie swallowed and forced a smile on his face as Eddie turned to walk over to him, while Allison walked to the other direction. As soon as Eddie’s arms wrapped around his neck tightly, Richie almost forgot why he was feeling anxious and down.

 

”Hey Eddie Spaghetti, what’s the haps?” Richie asked, picnhing Eddie’s sides so the smaller boy started to squirm and eventually let go of Richie.

 

”Stop that you asshat,” he muttered and poked his tongue out at Richie.

 

”What a pretty little tongue you’ve got there, would it like to meet mine?”

 

A blush spread on Eddie’s face as he swatted Richie’s chest. ”Shut up,” he mumbled, but kissed Richie anyway. It was a short kiss, and before Richie could get too excited and deepen the kiss (obviously in the hopes of getting some tongue action going on), Eddie pulled back and grinned at Richie’s frowning face.

 

”You’re being unfair,” Richie whined as they walked out of the school building and to the parking lot where they had agreed to meet with Bill and Stan.

 

”How am I being unfair?” Eddie asked with a laugh.

 

”You don’t let me fully implement my gay,” Richie said and swayed their hands back and forth. ”You’re holding my gay back.”

 

Eddie rolled his eyes. ”Well maybe you should find someone else then, somebody who allows you to fully set your gay free.”

 

”Nah, none of them could ever please me the way my only Eddie Spaghetti does,” Richie said, not noticing how Eddie had stopped walking. Only when he was dragged back slightly by Eddie’s hand which he was holding, did he turn to Eddie, who was now staring at the parking lot with his mouth hanging open.

 

”What are you staring at?” Richie asked dumbfounded and followed Eddie’s gaze, only to see Stan and Bill, quite heavily making out against Bill’s car.

 

”Well shit Eds!” Richie exclaimed. ”That could be us but you playin’.”

 

Eddie rolled his eyes and turned away from them. ”Maybe we should, um, maybe walk home? And not disturb their, ahem, little moment.”

 

Richie nodded. ”Yeah, agreed, but I say we stay a little longer and see how long it takes until the clothes are coming off.”

 

”If you want to see Bill’s dick that bad, maybe you should just ask him nicely, maybe he’ll let you take a peek,” Eddie rolled his eyes and started to walk away, making sure not to take even a step towards the parking lot.

 

”There’s only one dick that I’m interested in seeing and you know it!”

 

* * *

 

”So my place or yours babe?” Richie asked, wiggling his eyebrows as he put his arm around Eddie’s shoulders.

 

”Umm, yours? Is that okay?” Eddie asked awkwardly. He sort of purposedly had not told his mother about breaking up with Allison. He wanted his mother to at least think he was straight and dating a girl, a girl she approved of, instead of knowing the truth.

 

It wasn’t like Eddie thought being gay was a bad thing. He wouldn’t be doing half the things he did with Richie if he did, but his mother was a whole other story. She thought that everything was an illness and that there was a cure for everything, including homosexuality. Yeah, the last thing Eddie needed was his old-fashioned mother sending him to the hospital, to heal his queer.

 

”Yeah, it’s okay,” Richie nodded. ”I was kind of looking forward to seeing my one true love Mrs K, but maybe omse other time.”

 

Eddie rolled his eyes (when was he not rolling his eyes when Richie was around?). ”Honestly, if you want to keep this thing going on, you’re going to have to hold back on the mom jokes.”

 

”And what is this thing that is going on?” Richie asked casually, but Eddie could hear it in his voice that he was desperate for the confirmation that this was in fact _something_.

 

And quite frankly, Eddie wasn’t so sure himself. For some reason he didn’t want to call Richie his boyfriend, because it had literally been two and a half weeks since Allison and him had their break up, he didn’t want to be that person who immediately had a new significant other.

 

But on the other hand, he didn’t care if he was that person. So what if he and Richie were dating not so long after Allison and him broke up? It wasn’t like he was hurting Allison – she had told him to just accept the fact that Richie and him were officially an item and she wasn’t even mad. It was the rest of the school who might have that problem, and when had Eddie ever cared about what they think?

 

Eddie shrugged. ”What do you think this is?”

 

”I don’t know, what do you think this is?” Richie repeated the question with a smirk and Eddie scoffed.

 

”I just think that we would be better off as friends...” Eddie said, and Richie dropped his arm from his shoulders immediately, and frowned at Eddie, genuinely looking like Eddie had just murdered his puppy in front of him.

 

”Seriously?” Richie’s voice came as a weak whisper and Eddie almost started to feel bad about joking around.

 

”No! It was a joke! Have you ever heard of them? I guess not, since I’ve never heard you tell one...”

 

”Don’t do that shit to me!” Richie said and put his head in his hands before wrapping his arms around Eddie. ”You’re such an asshole I hate you, we’re getting a divorce you bastard-ass.”

 


	10. 10. Aching morning wood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is the shortest and shittiest chapter I've ever written smh. I'll try to update faster next time, but honestly I had no idea what to do with this chapter and saw one of you requesting that i'd bring henry bowers into this mess, and well, as you can see it's not the best it could've been, but I'll promise to make the next chapter better!

**10.**

 

When Richie woke up one morning with Eddie clinging on to him tightly, he figured that this wasn’t all that bad way to start the day. He was just about ready to force Eddie to move into his room, since Richie couldn’t remember when was the last time he slept that well. What made it even better(was it even possible to get better than that?) was the fact that Eddie was probably the most adorable sleeper ever. Richie figured that it should’ve been obvious – a person as cute as Eddie just _had_ to be as cute asleep as they were awake.

 

Eddie had his arms loosely wrapped around Richie’s neck, while Richie’s other had was wrapped around Eddie’s waist. Eddie looked comfortable as he snuggled against Richie’s neck and drooled just lightly on Richie’s T-shirt as he snuffled in his sleep. Richie almost wanted to get up to get his phone and take a picture, but he would just wake Eddie up and he didn’t want that.

 

So instead he stayed laying down and staring at Eddie’s sleeping face, maybe caressing it every once in a while in a totally not creepy way, until Eddie started to stir up from his sleep.

 

”Mornin’ sleeping beauty,” Richie grinned as Eddie moved his arms so he could rub the sleep out of his eyes.

 

”What time is it?” Eddie asked, his voice still sounding sleepy.

 

Richie turned to look at the clock. ”A quarter past nine.”

 

Eddie slammed his head back into the pillow and closed his eyes. ”Way too early for Saturday,” he muttered. ”Wake me up in three hours.”

 

”But what about my aching morning wood? Somebody has to take care of it.”

 

Eddie slapped Richie with a spare pillow as Richie let out a loud laugh.

 

When Eddie decided that six hours of just laying on the bed awake and kissing might not have been the most productive way to spend their day – Richie disagreed with that – they decided to go out and perhaps check if any of their friends were at the Barrens. It was very doubtful, since they both knew that their friends would have called or texted them in order to let them know. But they still thought that they would go anyway, and if none of their friends were there, it was just an excuse to spend more time alone.

 

Richie thought that it was a good idea to walk hand in hand in the streets, and it was okay for him to kiss Eddie on the lips, it was nobody’s business if they did. But it didn’t take too long for it all to go to shit.

 

”I fucking told you didn’t I! I told you they were fucking faggots!” A voice yelled from behind them, and neither Richie or Eddie had to turn around to know who it was. The way Eddie’s grip on Richie’s hand tightened and his whole body tensed made a full on defense-mode go on in Richie and he turned around to face none other than Hnery Bowers and his gang smirking at them.

 

”Richie don’t...” Eddie whispered to Richie as he saw the angry look on the other boy’s face.

 

”Well, I’m guessing you owe me twenty bucks Belch,” Henry said and glanced at his friend with a mean smirk. ”I told your little beard a long time ago that you were more into butt-stuff but she didn’t believe me back then,” Henry then said to Eddie, and this time it was Richie’s grip that tightened.

 

”Oh, fuck off and get a life Henry,” Eddie said angrily, not really wanting to make too big of a scene. ”Go fix those daddy-issues or whatever, god knows those are more important than the things I’m into.”

 

So Eddie’s intention may not have been to be too harsh, and Richie knew what he said was far from the worst. Richie was about to say something much worse, but that didn’t stop the angry look to form on Henry’s face as he strode forward and grabbed Eddie from the front of his shirt before punching him in the face before anybody had any time to react.

 

That was about all it took for Richie to set all hell loose inside him.

 

”You leave my father out of this,” Henry spit at Eddie, who was now holsing his bloody nose.

 

”Yeah, well maybe you can leave our relationship out of this as well and go bother someone else,” Richie growled, making the rest of the Bowers’ gang laugh.

 

Henry looked at Richie with a pissed off expression. ”You want a bloody nose too four-eyes? Is that some kind of fetish you butt-fuckers have?”

 

”Well it sure is a lot better fetish than whatever you have Bowers,” Richie said with narrowed eyes, shooting Eddie a worried glance. Eddie was sitting on the ground with his hand on his nose, trying to stop the bleeding, and luckily the rest of Bowers’ gang decided to leave him alone and watch what went down with Richie and Henry.

 

”You act all high and mighty now Tozier,” Henry sneered at Richie. ”But what about if I hurt your little boyfriend? What are you going to do then?”

 

That was the last straw. That sentence was literally the only thing Henry had to say before Richie lunged at him, making him fall back. Eddie screamed in shock as he watched Richie punch Henry from pure anger, while Henry’s friends tried to get Richie off him. When they finally got Richie off Henry, Henry’s right eye was black and his nose looked worse than Eddie’s.

 

Richie backed away, the angry look still on his face as Belch and Vic helped Henry up from the ground. Both Richie and Eddie were shocked when henry made no move to hurt them right back, instead putting his hand to his nose and looking at the blood pouring out and letting out a chuckle.

 

”This isn’t over gay-boy,” Henry sneered. ”Next time you cross my path, the both of you are dead,” then the Bowers’ gang turned back around and left the same way they came from.

 

”Oh shit, are you okay?” Richie crouched down to Eddie’s level and took Eddie’s bleeding face into his hands. ”You’re bleeding.”

 

”Oh am I?” Eddie asked sarcastically with a grimace. ”I didn’t notice.”

 

Richie let out a weak laugh and pressed a kiss on Eddie’s temple. ”Well I guess it could’ve been worse. They’re a bunch of assholes.”

 

”Yeah,” Eddie sighed and took one of Richie’s hand in his own, squeezing it tight.


	11. 11. A Full-time asshole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is the angst any good?  
> read to find out, lmao

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you love suffering as much as I do. The angst is back and it's better than ever, and I'm a truly awful humanbeing lmao. Literally the longest chapter I've written, ever in the history of everything. I'm pretty sure you'll hate me and potentially love me again by the end of this chapter, we'll see.

**11.**

 

Eddie knew his mother’s reaction wouldn’t be good when he got home. He knew she would freak out, and if she was to find out the reason behind his bloody and bruised nose, he knew he had a hell to pay. Eddie almost considered not going home at all that day and just sleep over at Richie’s. It wouldn’t help though, his mother already wasn’t too happy about him spending the last night at Richie’s, spending two nights in a row would mean that Eddie was replacing his mother.

 

In all honesty, sometimes it didn’t sound like a bad idea.

 

”Where have you been?” His mother yelled as soon as Eddie walked through the door. It was already half past eleven, and he had promised to be home by six.

 

”Nowhere mom, just hanging out with Richie,” Eddie muttered, trying his hardest to cover his nose with something.

 

His mother scoffed. ”You’d do good not spending anymore time with that boy. You know what they’re saying about him in the town? That he’s queer. he’s sick Eddie, and if you’re not careful, you get sick too.”

 

Eddie tried his hardest not to flinch at his mother’s words. It was as if his mother was permanently stuck in the past with all her pointless homophobia. Sometimes Eddie wanted to scream from the top of his lungs that he laso was gay and all the medication she was forcing down his throat wouldn’t change that.

 

”Yes mom,” Eddie rolled his eyes and turned to walk up the stairs to his room, quick so his mother wouldn’t see the state of his face.

 

”I noticed that Allison hasn’t visited in a while,” his mother hummed, making Eddie freeze on his tracks. ”You’d do better spending more time with her than that Tozier boy. She is after all your girlfriend, Eddie-bear.”

 

Eddie bit his lip. ”Yeah, we’re um going to the movies tomorrow,” he lied, still not facing his mom. ”She was in the DC for a couple of weeks, so we haven’t seen each other in a while.”

 

”Well that’s nice. Invite her to dinner after the movie, will you?” Eddie nodded as an answer and rushed up the stairs, quickly to get his phone. He was glad he and Allison had broken up on good terms, otherwise he would be so screwed in this situation.

 

* * *

 

Allison was truly an angel sent from above. When she agreed to pretent to still be Eddie’s girlfriend, Eddie knew there was a reason he had actually started dating her. They figured that they might as well go see that damned movie before they went to have dinner with Eddie’s mother, just in case she would ask something about the movie they had seen.

 

”I honestly can’t thank you enough,” Eddie said, about the hundreth time that day. They were currently standing behind Allison’s front door, as Eddie had been a gentleman and walked the lady home.

 

”It was really no problem Eddie,” Allison smiled. ”What friends are for, right?”

 

Eddie couldn’t help but smile and be thankful that he and Allison still were friends. Eddie gave her a tight hug, one she returned gratefully and even kissed his cheek before letting go and going back inside. Eddie stood behind her door for a moment, before turning around to walk back home, only to notice Richie standing under the tree under his window.

 

”What are you doing here?” Eddie asked him as soon as he had walked back to his own house.

 

”Sorry, didn’t want to interrupt you and your girlfriend,” Richie sneered and clenched his jaw. ”You know, next time you want to experiment with your sexuality, do it with somebody who isn’t your friend and totally in love with you.”

 

”Wait what?” Eddie asked with wide eyes as Richie started to walk away.

 

Richie started to dig his cigarette’s from his pocket, before turning around. ”You didn’t think I’d see all that? You and her going to the movies. Walking her home, even though the distance between your houses is literally ten feet. Hugging and kissing. Hell, you’re even still at it at school. I probably should have seen it earlier.”

 

”You don’t actually think that I’m still in a relationship with her?” Eddie asked, aghast. ”She literally just said we’re friends.”

 

”I honestly don’t know what to think with you Eddie,” Richie admitted, taking a long drag from his cigarette. ”First you’re in a relationship with her. Then you kiss me back when I kiss you, but you still continue to be in a relationship with her. Then, apparently you break up, you ignore me for almost a week, then you apparently like me, yet you never tell me whether or not we’re dating. Frankly, it wouldn’t surprise me if you two were still dating.

 

Eddie was quiet for a while. ”You honestly think that I would go on and not tell you if Allison and I are still together? It was her who told you about our break up for fucks sake, do you think she said it just for shits and giggles? You actually think that I’m just fucking with you, even though we’ve been friends for twelve fucking years?” Eddie asked, his voice getting louder and louder, before he realized that his mother might hear and he couldn’t have that.

 

”Well you didn’t mind cheating on Allison now did you?” Richie shot back, though most of the heat in his voice was now gone. They stood in silence for a while, just staring at each other angrily.

 

Eddie scoffed after a moment. ”Okay, whatever. Think what you like, I don’t care,” he said and stormed inside, leaving Richie alone outside.

 

* * *

 

”You’re kidding me,” Stan said and hit Richie with a pillow. ”You’re joking. Tell me you’re joking, or I swear to God you’re not going to see the light of the day ever again.”

 

Richie shook his head and lit up his thrid cigarette. After his fight with Eddie he didn’t want to go home, he had to talk to _somebody_ , and Stan was the easiest to talk to. Well, not maybe the easiest, but he was the voice of reason – the would tell Richie what he needed to hear.

 

”If you tell me I overreacted-” Richie muttered, after blowing out the smoke from the cigarette.

 

”Oh no, you didn’t just _overreact_ , Richie. You fucked up. And you fucked up bad,” Stan shook his head angrily. ”Eddie was already feeling bad about the whole cheating on Allison thing, and there you go, holding it against him, and accusing him of cheating, again. As if Eddie would actually do that. You actually had a chance with him and you blew it already.”

 

Richie glared at Stan. ”You didn’t see them Stan! They were hugging and she kissed his cheek. They had spent the entire day together! What am I suppose to make out of that?”

 

”Maybe you should actually trust Eddie and believe him when he told you it was just a fucking cover up,” Stan said, keeping his voice calm and steady, yet managing to have a pissed off edge to it.

 

Richie pursed his lips and smoked the rest of his cigarette, throwing the remains out of the window. Before he could reach for another one, Stan took them from his reach and put them in his own back-pocket.

 

”God, if you wanted a cigarette Stanny just ask,” Richie rolled his eyes and looked out of the clock on Stan’s wall. It was half past midnight, but Richie didn’t feel like sleeping. In fact, he felt like he would never sleep again in his entire life.

 

”I think you’ve had enough cigarettes for one night,” Stan stated and rolled his eyes. ”What I suggest you do is go to bed and clear your head and the first thing you’re doing tomorrow is go to Eddie and apologize to him.”

 

”I’m not tired,” Richie mumbled and looked away from Stan again. Shit, he really wanted to go talk to Eddie _now_. Or maybe not talk, he just wanted Eddie, but at the same time he was mad at Eddie. Or maybe he was mad at himself for being an insecure twat. ”I’m such a twat,” Richie said after a while, making Stan scoff.

 

”Yeah, no shit,” Stan mumbled and suddenly his phone went off. Richie watched as Stan looked at who was calling him at this hour, before answering the phone. ”Yeah Bev?” he asked. ”Eddie’s there?” Stan made a move to go to Stan, possibly to take the phone out of his hands and beg Beverly to just let him talk to Eddie god damn it, but Stan made a gesture signalling Richie to stand back. After that Stan walked out of his room and mouthed _stay here_ to Richie.

 

Richie watched as Stan slammed the door shut behind him and threw himself on Stan’s bed, covering his face with Stan’s pillow and screaming into it. Now he wasn’t only mad at Allison for existing, but at himself for being a grade A idiot. He was also slightly angry at Stan for taking away his cigarettes, even though Stan only meant well. He always did, even though he had a weird way of showing it.

 

It felt like forever before Stan returned to his room, and Richie sat up to look at Stan, who was now texting somebody on his phone and running a hand through his curly hair.

 

”Was he there? Did you talk to Eddie? Did he say anything? Oh my god, he hates me, doesn’t he?” Richie asked, not sure if he wanted an answer to any of those questions.

 

Stan glanced at Richie, before looking at his phone again. ”No, I didn’t talk to Eddie, I talked to Bev. They’re both at Bill’s right now, and let’s just say that Bev’s not siding with you right now.”

 

” _You_ shouldn’t be siding with me right now,” Richie groaned and let his back hit the mattress again. ”I don’t know why I’m a fuck up.”

 

Stan was quiet for a while, before letting out a huge sigh. ”You’re not a fuck up Richie,” he said, all though it sounded like saying anything remotely nice to Richie hurt him greately. ”You’re just… I don’t know, insecure? I don’t know, you never talk about it, so it’s hard to understand. Maybe if you admitted it and talked about it, not with me but with Eddie, _he_ could understand it and moments like these wouldn’t happen.”

 

Richie didn’t answer. Yes, it was true that a huge part of the burning jealousy he felt when he thought about Eddie with anybody else was due to him being insanely insecure, but it wasn’t something that he could really help. The feeling just had always been there that Eddie and the rest of his friends deserved something better than him, but he was too selfish to let go, because he wanted to have nice things happen to him every once in a while. But of course, when something good happened to him once in ten years, he just had to go and fuck it up again.

 

”But I can’t go talk to Eddie _now_?” Richie asked and Stan shook his head.

 

”Maybe you should just try to get some rest.”

 

* * *

 

Eddie had had plenty of bad days in his life, but it felt like this was the worst yet. Bill had just dropped him off back home after he had spent the night at his house with Beverly. He had hoped that being around his friends would make him feel calm and get him to think straight again, but no such luck. All he could think about how Richie looked last night and instantly felt bad.

 

Yes, so Eddie was a dick. He should have broken up with Allison immediately after he and Richie kissed and not made Richie wait. He should have told Richie they broke up. He should have made it more clear that he actually liked, no he _loved_ Richie more than anything, but he didn’t and now Richie didn’t want to talk to him anymore.

 

Eddie was grateful that it was Sunday and not a school morning, because there was no way in hell that Eddie would be able to go to school right now. He was able to catch maybe an hour of sleep last night and the rest of the time he was silently sobbing to his pillow until there was no more tears left to shed.

 

Eddie went in through the back door, just in case his mom was awake already, but was glad to notice that she had gone off to church, and had left a note on the fridge that she would be home late. Eddie slumped up the stairs into his room and was ready to just fall back to his bed and perhaps scream into his pillow until his throat burned, but his plans changed after he opened the door.

 

Richie was sitting on his bed with his legs crossed, looking just as bad, if not even worse, as Eddie. Eddie blinked a few times, to see if he was just imagining Richie sitting there, but it was real. It was all real.

 

”Why are you here?” Eddie asked, his voice strained and weak.

 

”Because I’m a twat?” Richie asked and started to look into his pockets, probably to find his pack of cigarettes, but coming up empty. ”Fuck I hate that bitch-ass Stan. He took my cigs.”

 

Eddie slowly walked over to the bed where Richie was sitting and sat down, all though on the other end of the bed so there was a good amount of space between them. Richie looked at the empty bed space miserably.

 

”Fuck, okay I’m here cause I want to apologize for overreacting so badly,” Richie said after a long silence and covered his face with his hands. ”I know I stepped way over the line, and I had no right to say any of those thing to you, but I just can’t help but feel like you were a lot happier with Allison than you are with me. I feel like being with her would be easier to you, because she’s a chik and I’m a guy, and… You should be with someone better than me. You should be with someone like Bill or Mike or fuck with fucking Allison, because they’re not idiots and they know when to keep their mouths shut and they know what they’re doing with life and they’re not selfish. And I’m fucking selfish because you really should be with somebody else, but I don’t want you to be with anybody else, because I love you, and I know there are people who could love you better, and you shouldn’t waste your time on me. And that’s why I got so mad, because I was afraid that you’ve noticed it and were just trying to make me feel better by being with me.”

 

Eddie listened to Richie silently and didn’t even notice the tears falling down his eyes. Now he felt more like an asshole than before. How could he not have noticed that maybe Richie’s loud and annoying persona was to just cover up the fact that he really though so little of himself. Then he felt angry at Richie for even thinking that he wasn’t worth anyone’s love, when all the while Richie probably deserved more than Eddie could give him, but that shouldn’t stop Eddie from trying.

 

Eddie wasn’t sure what he should say, because there was too much what he wanted to say. He wanted to scream at Richie that he deserves all the love the world has to offer and that he was stupid for thinking that he didn’t deserve Eddie, because Richie might’ve been an asshole every once in a while, but so was Eddie. He wanted to hug Richie and tell him how much he loved and cared about him, and that if he had to hear Richie say one more time how he was selfish for loving Eddie, he was going to explode.

 

So Eddie decided to just wrap his arms tightly around Richie’s neck and silently cry into the crook of his neck. The warmth that had left him last night after their fight returned as he felt Richie’s arms wrap around his middle, and they just sat there in silence for a while, holding each other and not even thinking about letting go.

 

Eddie told Richie everything he wanted, about Richie deserving more than he had to offer, about how much Eddie loved Richie and how Richie should never feel like he didn’t deserve Eddie, because maybe nobody desrves anybody, but that doesn’t stop them from being happy together. He told Richie how he was the only asshole here, and he repeated the words _I love you_ more times than he could really count, and didn’t stop even after he felt his T-shirt getting wet from Richie’s tears.

 

”I know it’s been a day, but I missed hugging you,” Richie mumbled. They were now laying down, arms wrapped around each other, still holding on tight. ”You’re the most huggable person on the plant. You’re soft and cute and like a small adorable little teddy bear who gives kisses.”

 

”You’re not acting like Richie,” Eddie mumbled into Richie’s shirt.

 

”I don’t feel like Richie.”

 

Eddie hummed. ”That’s okay,” he muttered and presses a kiss behind Richie’s ear, knowing that the boy was ticklish from there, and only from there, and smiled slightly as Richie squirmed a little.

 

”Hey Eds,” Richie whispered again, after a long while of just laying in silence. Eddie hummed as a response. ”Wanna fuck?”

 

Eddie slapped Richie’s chest lightly, as Richie laughed softly. ”Don’t be an asshole,” Eddie said.

 

”I thought you said that you’re the only asshole in this relationship.”

 

”I’m the only full-time asshole, yes,” Eddie admitted and played with Richie’s fingers. ”But you’re a part-time asshole. Like an intern. Still learning.”

 

Richie snorted lightly. ”Right. Well are you my full-time boyfriend, or can you only do one thing at a time?”

 

”Yeah, I think I can be. Do I have Wednesdays off though?” Eddie asked, and Richie shook his head.

 

”Nah, if you’re to be a full-time boyfriend there’s no day’s off. That’s a twenty-four seven job, and no breaks,” Richie said and ran his hand through Eddie’s soft hair.

 

”Hm, I guess I have to cut back from being an asshole then, otherwise there won’t be enough time to be a boyfriend.”


	12. 12. Whitney Something

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've seriously considered adding the dirty deed, the frick frack, into this story, but I'm still not sure lmao. Not sure if I could even write it correctly, so we'll see.
> 
> But till now you can enjoy yourselves this little chapter, which is more of a filler than anything.
> 
> Also i've thought about it, and this fic will be about 15-20 chapters long, so we'll see how this ends lol

**12.**

 

Maybe Eddie was overthinking. Maybe he was paranoid. But he was definitely sure that when Richie leaned to kiss his cheek in the middle of the math class, the girl sitting two seats from Eddie whispered something in her friends ear, making both of them scoff.

 

Eddie definitely had to learn how to relax around people. He also had to learn how to not be too scared to be who he is. He still had a long way to go, but Richie was holding his hand through the entire time, and it made it a whole lot easier.

 

When the bell rung to signal the end of their last period, Richie jumped out of his seat quickly and grabbed all of Eddie’s things, threw them in his bag and took the bag with him.

 

”Hey!” Eddie yelped, as Richie was already pulling him out of the classroom like an overly-excited child. ”I can carry my own stuff, thank you very much!”

 

”Yeah, but why would you when you’ve got a smoking hot boyfriend to carry them for you,” Richie grinned and leaned in to peck Eddie’s lips, before continuing to drag him out of the school.

 

”Why are we in such hurry anyways?” Eddie whined, before pulling at Richie’s hand so he’d stop. ”I have to go to my locker quickly!” He remembred then. ”I have my biology essay there, I have to finish it by tomorrow!”

 

Richie had to time to answer Eddie, as the smaller boy was already running to the other direction. It didn’t take long for Eddie to get to his locker, only to realize that there was no way he was going to get it to open without Richie.

 

Eddie cursed under his breath as he started and the lock started to have an epic battle for dominance. The lock was winning as always. Eddie punched his locker harshly, and somebody cleared their voice behind him.

 

Eddie quickly whilred around to see one of the girls from his math class – Whitney something.

 

”Hi Eddie,” she smiled sweetly. ”Need help with your locker.”

 

Eddie blinked a couple of times awkwardly. ”Um, no I don’t think so… I’ll just go get Richie,” he tried to smile but it came out as more of a grimace.

 

Whitney something chuckled and slightly nudged him out of the way. ”Don’t be silly. My locker does the exact same thing,” she said. ”The key is to push it at the same time as you open it,” Whitney something explained and miracoulously, she managed to open it even faster than Richie.

 

”Um, thanks,” Eddie said and started to look for his biology essay.

 

”So you’re in my math class,” Whitney stated, obviously trying to get some kind of conversation going. Eddie swallowed, already knowing where the whole thing was going.

 

”Well you’ve been attentive,” Eddie said, a little too dryly to be friendly.

 

Whitney just laughed and nudged Eddie a little bit. ”Oh Eddie, you’re so funny,” she said and smiled. ”So you and that Allison aren’t dating anymore, right?”

 

Eddie finally found his essay and closed the door before turning to look at Whitney something with narrowed eyes. ”No, we’re not… Why, you want her phone number or something? Cause, she’s pretty open minded, I’m sure she would love to-”

 

”No, don’t be silly,” Whitney something laughed again, and Eddie couldn’t help but feel like it wasn’t a sincere laugh. ”I sort of wanted your phone number. You know, I really need help with math, and you’re really good at it and I just want to get to know you better.”

 

Eddie’s eyes widened as he found himself at loss for words. He had literally spent his entire life being pretty much ignored by all girls and nobody ever had romantic feelings for him – and now that people finally started to find him interesting, they did it at the exact same time. There was some kind of witchcraft going on.

 

Eddie had a hard time believing Whitney something was being genuine with her request. She wasn’t friends with Greta Keene, no they were the worst of enemies, but they still were exactly the same. Whitney something had no reason to like Eddie. She could really have anybody in this school.

 

”Um, if you want help with math, I suggest you ask that Randall kid from our class, he’s way better than I am,” Eddie said nervously, as he started to take slow steps back, only to have Whitney follow him, still smiling like she was having the best day ever.

 

”Oh Eddie, you’re so modest,” Whitney something sighed dreamily. ”That’s a rare quality in a guy nowadays. Every boy in this school is either a complete jackass or looks like they had lived with rats their entire life, but you’re not either one. You’re always so nice and kind and smart, and not at all bad looking! You’re like every girl’s dream!”

 

”And every boy’s as well!” another, overly-excited, voice came from behind Eddie, and it didn’t take him long to figure it out that it was Richie. In a second, Richie was stading next to Eddie, with his arm around his shoulders. ”But I do have to agree with you – he is really all of those things. And a pretty damn good kisser too, if I may add,” Richie offered Whitney something a wide, fake, smile and squeezed Eddie’s shoulder.

 

”Oh, so Allison wasn’t afraid to share her experiences with Eddie with you?” Whitney asked, and Eddie felt like she was purposedly ignoring the obvious.

 

”Oh you betcha! She told us all about it – the kissing, the sex, the cuddling, everything!” Richie smiled. ”Really, I can describe it to you in vivid detail if you want to! But I gotta warn you though, he is kind of more into, you know, using the entrance number two, if you catch my drift,” Richie chuckled in an overly-sweet way.

 

Whitney something gave Richie a confused look, but the smile on her face never dropped. ”No, I’m not sure if I do,” she said before turning to look at Eddie. ”Anyways, here’s my number,” she took Eddie’s arm and pulled a marker from her bag, quickly writing her number on Eddie’s arm. ”And you can call me anytime.”

 

With that, Whitney something sauntered away, swinging her hips in that way she always did and leaving both Eddie and Richie staring after her with annoyed expressions.

 

”I’m not sure what her problem is, but I sure do hope that they’ll find a cure for it soon,” Richie shook his head and moved his arm from Eddie’s shoulders to around his waist, pulling the other boy in for a kiss. ”Do you think we should just blatantly make out in front of her if she ever comes to hit on you again?” Richie asked against Eddie’s lips, making Eddie chuckle.

 

”I doubt she does. I feel like she was just pulling some joke,” Eddie shook his head, and wrapped his arms around Richie’s neck.

 

Richie pecked his lips a couple of times. ”Oh come on, give yourself some credit. I’m one hundred percent sure Allison and I aren’t the only ones to acknowledge your hotness.”

 

”Shut up, I’m not hot,” Eddie groaned, making Richie raise his eyebrows at him. ”And I’m sure Allison doesn’t think that way either,” Eddie shook his head.

 

”Oh really? So if we call her and ask, she’ll probably say that you’re about as attractive as a pile of hamster shit?” Richie asked and took Eddie’s phone out of his back-pocket and opened it.

 

”How do you know my code?”

 

”Irrelevant,” Richie said and chose Allison’s number out of Eddie’s call history. ”Okay, this says your seven last phone calls were to her.”

 

Eddie rolled his eyes. ”Would you stop with that already?”

 

”Just saying,” Richie shrugged and called Allison’s number, putting the phone on speaker.

 

” _How’s crackin’ Edster?”_

 

”Do you think Eddie’s hot?” Richie asked, tempted to call out Allison for calling Eddie a nickname. That was his thing – Eddie and Allison might’ve still be friends, but… the nicknames were _Richie’s_ thing.

 

Yeah, Richie really needed to get over the jealousy, it wasn’t healthy anymore.

 

” _Yeah, smoking. Like so hot that I’m absolutely certain his mother threw him into a volcano as a child. Hell literally seems like a ski-resort compared to Eddie,”_ Allison said, not even questioning the fact that it was Richie in the phone and not Eddie, who was now flushed deep red. _”I swear to god, the first time I saw him, it was like staring into the Sun. Like, I’m sure humanity could survive without the Sun, as long as we have Eddie. This one time, my dad gave Eddie an iron stick to hold, and the thing bent because of how hot Eddie is.”_

 

”Yes, okay, we get it, thank you for the confirmation Allison,” Richie said. ”Goodbye then,” Richie hung up the phone and gave Eddie a pointed look. ”See?”

 

Eddie pursed his lips at Richie. ”You still don’t like her?”

 

Richie groaned, taking Eddie in his arms again and squeezing him hard enough to make it a little too hard to breath Eddie. ”I can’t help it,” Richie whined. ”I don’t like thinking about how she had you first and I had to look at you two being happy. I really want to like her, and I can’t stop you from being friends, but still she somehow annoys me.”

 

”I really don’t get it. If you got to know her, I’m sure you’d fall in love with her...” Eddie trailed off before shaking his head. ”Yeah, okay no, on second thought, I think it’s better if you don’t get to know her. I can’t risk you switching me for her.”

 

”I’m sure you don’t ever have to worry about that Eddie Spaghetti,” Richie said, leaning down to kiss Eddie.

 

”We’re still at school,” Eddie noted after he broke away from the kiss and looked at the empty halls. ”Weren’t you in a hurry to somewhere?”

 

Richie too only seemed to realize this now and slapped his hand on his forehead in an overexaggerated way. ”Fuck, shit,” he said and started to pull Eddie out of the school again in a hurry.

 

It was almost distressing, walking down the empty hallway, where every step the took echoed and the lights were already turned off. The only light that got in was from the windows, and there weren’t too many of those. To Eddie it looked like a setting in a horror movie Richie would force him to watch.

 

”Why are we in such a hurry anyway?” Eddie asked, not recalling making any plans for that Friday night. More often than not, the losers had a movie night on Fridays, it was almost like a tradition, but lately they had been slipping out of the habit, because nearly everybody had something else to do. This Friday was no different.

 

They were outside the school when Richie stopped to face Eddie. ”Okay, I wanted it to be a surprise,” Richie said, now holding both of eddie’s hands. ”But I know we haven’t been on an official date, and I remember you once telling Bev and Ben how you don’t really count it as dating before there has been a first official date, so I figured I’d take you...”

 

”I really haven’t even thought about it,” Eddie blinked, realizing it himself. ”But I mean, we’ve gone to movies a lot, so doesn’t that count? Richie, really you don’t have to worry, I do think we’re dating even if-”

 

Richie stopped Eddie mid-sentence. ”Yeah, but I want to do this,” he said and pulled Eddie along with him. ”Look, Bill even lent me his car.”

 

”Richie, really it doesn’t matter,” Eddie said, but still feeling warm and giddy inside for Richie being so thoguhtful. ”I wasn’t even being serious back then.”

 

”Oh my god, quit trying to sound like you don’t want to go on a date with me!” Richie laughed.

 

Eddie crossed his arms across his chest. ”Who says I do?” he challenged, but almost immediately dropped his demeanor when Richie’s posture slumped. ”I was joking. I’d love to go on a date with you Richie.”

 

”You really need to stop teasing me, you know I take it seriously.”


	13. 13. take the trash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we can all just collectively agree to hate eddie's mom kay? good.
> 
> i feel like it's been ages since i updated like anything, but tbh i haven't had time or motivation or energy and really no inspiration to do anything. but i'm glad yall have been so patient and i still appreciate every single comment and every one who leaves kudos (it's fucked up that you can't leave kudos for like every chapter like at wattpad, like i'm getting frustrated i wanna leave some kudos for all these brilliant fics yall are writing).
> 
> this chapter didn't turn out the greatest, but hope yall still appreciate

**13.**

 

”So your carefully planned date for us-,” Eddie said. ”-is basically what we do every single day.”

 

They had left Bill’s car in the nearest parking space they could find and from there they walked to the Aladdin. All the way there, Eddie had tried his best to make Richie reveal what they were going to do, but Richie had insisted on keeping it a secret.

 

”Yup,” Richie said, grinning widely. ”But now we’re going here for a date, not just to hang out. That makes it seven times begtter.”

 

”That’s a precise number,” Eddie hummed, but didn’t complain. He liked going to the movies, especially with Richie, so at least Richie had played it safe and planned for them something that Eddie actually enjoyed doing.

 

”That it is, now pick a movie Eds!”

 

”You know I’m not good at picking, you choose,” Eddie whined, throwing his head back.

 

”It doesn’t matter what movie you pick Eds,” Richie rolled his eyes and grinned. ”We’ll go to the last row and when it gets all nice and dark we can churn some butter.” Richie laughed as Eddie lightly smacked his arm and looked down to hide his growing blush.

 

”Shut up asshole or I’m going to pick out some sappy rom com that I know you’ll hate,” Eddie threatened.

 

”Then we’ll both be miserable and have even a better reason to do the horizontal hula.”

 

Eddie wasn’t kidding. He did end up picking out a sappy rom com that he was sure Richie was going to hate. What he didn’t expect though, was Richie to burst out in tears during the movie and not shutting up even after the ending credits had gone.

 

”Richie, the movie is over,” Eddie mumbled quietly as the other people started to make their way out of the movie theatre, throwing away their empty pop corn tubs and sodas. Eddie was glad that not many had come see the same movie as them, because otherwise he would have died out of embarrasment.

 

”They just loved each other so much!” Richie weeped, squeazing Eddie’s hand tight with his right hand and hising his eyes with the left one. ”It was so tragic!”

 

Eddie rolled his eyes. ”Do you want to go get ice cream or something? To make you feel better?”

 

”But that’s not what I had planned!” Richie wailed, tears still pouring out of his eyes, and Eddie couldn’t help but think that Richie was fucking with him.

 

”If you’re fucking with me right now, I’m going to go, take Bill’s car and leave you here,” Eddie threatened, and Richie turned his eyes to look at Eddie before grinning.

 

”Yeah, it was mostly fake, but some of it was genuine!” Richie said, getting up from his seat and taking Eddie’s hand. ”You gonna take the trash, babe?” Richie asked, gesturing to their empty tub of pop corn and soda.

 

”I thought I already was?” Eddie asked and showed Richie their interwined fingers.

 

* * *

 

Richie and Eddie had been planning on going to the local diner to get ice cream, but as soon as they saw Eddie’s mother talking to some man in front of the grocery store located opposite of the diner, they started to have second thoughts.

 

”How about we just go home?” Eddie suggested, dropping Richie’s hand. Richie tried to ignore the slight burning in his heart, knowing that Eddie only did it because he didn’t want to face his mother’s wrath.

 

”Or we could go in there and act as if we’re friends?” Richie offered.

 

Eddie frowned. ”It’s not a date if we act like friends.”

 

”We can play some footsie under the table?” Richie said and wrapped his arm around Eddie’s shoulders, only to have Eddie immediately shrug it off. ”Sorry,” he said awkwardly.

 

Eddie shook hie head. ”No, it’s not your fault, just...” Eddie trailed off, staring at his mother miserably. ”I hate it that I can’t be who I am with her.” Eddie looked into Richie’s eyes, and Richie saw what Eddie really meant.

 

_I hate her._

 

”Yeah, me too,” Richie agreed, biting his lip and kicking a pebble on the ground. ”We would probably be better off away from here anyway.”

 

Eddie hummed in agreement.

 

”Well, we only have this year and then we can run away to some university far away from here!” Richie grinned, but the smile dropped as soon as he saw Eddie grimacing. ”Eddie-cakes, what is it?” he asked, nudging Eddie a little.

 

”She wants me to apply to universities in Maine,” Eddie muttered. ”More specifically, ones that are close to Derry. She leaves flyers all over the house for me to find nearly every day, and I just rip them into confetti because I’m not planning on applying to any of them.”

 

Richie bit his lip and turned to look at Sonia Kaspbrak again – she was still having a conversation with the man he didn’t recognize. Richie couldn’t ignore the feeling of absolute and burning hatred for the woman – it was almost similar to the one he felt towards his own parents.

 

”Have you thought about where you’re applying?” Richie asked then, but Eddie shook his head.

 

”No,” Eddie admitted. ”And I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

 

* * *

 

Richie and Eddie ended up going back to Eddie’s. Richie wasn’t sure whether or not it was the safer option for them – there was always the chance of Sonia walking in on them. But neither of them cared about it just then.

 

Richie had yet to get bored of kissing Eddie – and he got bored of things quite fast. Every time he kissed Eddie it felt like the first time – he was always taken aback how soft Eddie’s lips were, how Eddie’s lips had the faintest taste of raspberry on them and how Eddie’s breath was always minty, the result of Eddie taking such a good care of his dental hygiene.

 

For some reason, Richie prefered their make out session when they took place at Eddie’s – maybe it was because the fear of getting caught was bigger there and added the element of excitment. Richie’s parents were almost never home, and when they were, they never came into Richie’s room. There they were safe. At Eddie’s however, Sonia Kaspbrak could march in at any point with no warning, and that itself should have made them more cautious.

 

It didn’t.

 

For the past thirty minutes they had laid on Eddie’s bed, Richie on top like always, slowly kissing like they were in no hurry. Sonia was yet to return from the town, and Richie hoped she would take her god damn time picking out which brand of milk would be the best for her beloved son.

 

”Richie,” Eddie hummed as Richie separeted their lips to kiss down Eddie’s neck.

 

”Yeah?” Richie mumbled against Eddie’s lip, nibbling the skin there with his teeth, making Eddie let out a small whine. ”Fuck that was cute, do it again,” Richie grinned, biting Eddie’s skin again, only to have Eddie smack his shoulder quickly.

 

”Don’t be such an ass-” Eddie didn’t have time to finish his sentence, when their worst nightmare barged into Eddie’s room.

 

It felt as though time stood still. Sonia Kaspbrak dropped the pill containers she was holding after seeing what was going on. Both Richie and Eddie were too shocked to move – Richie being the first one to pull himself together, he quickly jumped off Eddie, straightening his clothes.

 

”Mrs K, how’s it hanging?” he asked, trying to lighten up the mood with an obviously fake laugh, but it was no use. Sonia Kaspbrak’s face was turnign more and more red by the second, and Richie was sure she was going to explode soon.

 

”Mom-” Eddie tried, but it was too late.

 

”GET OUT OF MY GOD DAMN HOUSE RICHARD TOZIER!” She screamed louder than Eddie had ever heard her yell. She took a hold of the front of Richie’s shirt, dragging him downstairs, with eddie following hot on their heels. ”YOU GET OUT OF MY HOUSE, AND NEVER COME BACK!”

 

Sonia opened the front door, pushing Richie out. ”AND YOU KEEP YOUR FILTHY DISEASE FILLED HANDS OFF MY SON!” Before either Richie or Eddie could object, the front door had been slammed shut in front of Richie’s face. Richie stayed standing there, staring dumbly at the door, wondering how could things go south so quickly.

 

* * *

 

Eddie didn’t dare to say anything. Both he and his mother were quiet as they watched Richie get back into Bill’s car and drive away, quickly, not looking back. Eddie swallowed the tears, not wanting to look his mother in the eyes.

 

”Well?” she demanded, her voice not as loud any more, but not any less angry. ”Are you going to explain yourself?”

 

”Explain what exactly? That I’m gay? Or at the very least into boys?” Eddie asked, wiping tears off his cheeks. ”I thought it was obvious.”

 

His mother glared at him. ”You’re not queer Eddie,” she said timidly. ”You’re sick. I’ve told you times and times again how that boy is not good for you – he is filthy and sick and he’ll get you sick too, and see what happened! You didn’t listen to me, and I was right.”

 

”Right about what? How exactly am I sick mom?” Eddie asked, feeling the tears swell in his eyes again.

 

”It’s not normal for boys to like boys, Eddie you know this. We’ve been over this before, and I thought you were over that phase.”

 

Eddie scoffed. ”Yeah, cause it’s just a phase, right mom? You’ll get me couple more containors of pills that will heal my _sickness_? Maybe if you’d get on with world, you’d realize that homosexuality is not classified as a sickness anymore,” Eddie snapped. ”It’s never been a sickness, and it most certainly isn’t now.”

 

”I won’t hear it anymore Edward,” Sonia snapped. ”Go to your room and stay there. I’m calling doctor Harris, and we’ll take care of your sickness.”


	14. 14. The epitome of heterosexuality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hey there babes, take a sip of this shit.  
> this accidentally got waaaay longer than i planned, oopsie. i didn't even really have a plan for this chapter lol but here it is, hop you enjoy.
> 
> once again, i'm literally so overwhelmed by all the positive feedback i'm getting ahhhhhhhhh. i luv u all, even if i'm starting to think this fic sux, cause come on, eddie kaspbrak is a gay icon, he would never date a girl, what was binch thinking when she wrote this??????????
> 
> oh, and this might come a little late, but a great big thank you to the user who told me about this fic having been stolen and put into wattpad without my consent. the fic was deleted already by the time i found it, but fucking hell, please never do that. it's completely understandable that people write similar fics, but copying someone's entire work and posting it somewhere else is just shitty...

**14.**

 

Eddie hadn’t been in school for five days, his phone went straight to voice-mail when you tried to contact him, and when driving by his house, the place looked abandoned.

 

All the losers were worried sick, but none of them could compare to the anguish Richie was feeling.

 

No matter what his friends told him, he felt like it was his fault. It was his fault that they were in Eddie’s room that day, he had been the one to iniate the kiss and he had been the one to pursue a relationship with Eddie. So ultimately, the fact that nobody had heard anything of Eddie, was Richie’s fault.

 

The only thing anywhere _close_ to finding out what was going on in the Kaspbrak residence, came from _Greta Keene_ of all people, so the losers knew to be doubtful when listening to her story. They heard from her that Eddie’s mother had come to the pharmacy the day after Eddie was last seen, and boy was she not happy. She had come with a new list of prescriptions for medicine for Eddie. According to Mr Keene, all of them were bullshit, even more so than the other pills Mrs Kaspbrak had been forcefeeding Eddie with.

 

”A Doctor called Dr Harris, and rumour has it that he’s not even a real doctor,” Greta told with a malicious look on her face. ”Another rumour goes that he had once purposely given a gay guy a wrong medication, which had resulted in the guy dying.”

 

Richie knew that the last part was probably complete bullshit, but the rest of the story seemed pretty plausible. But Richie couldn’t figure out why Mrs Kaspbrak would get Eddie even more placebos?

 

”Some idiots think that homosexuality is a mental illness, one that can be cured with a proper medication and therapy,” Mike had then explained with a roll of his eyes. ”Unfortunately, some of these idiots are doctors.”

 

All in all, the situation didn’t look too bright. A worst case scenario was that Mrs Kaspbrak would never let Eddie out of her sight ever again – the best case scenario was that Eddie would return to school, but wouldn’t be allowed to speak to Richie ever again.

 

Eddie did come back to school after missing nine days. He came in, looking like nothing had happened. The only thing that was different about him, was the paleness of his skin and the bags under his eyes and the fact that when he walked past Richie, he cast his gaze down onto the floor and kept walking.

 

Best case scenario it is then.

 

”Oh my god Eddie! You have no idea how worried I’ve been!” A shrill, annoying voice screamed at the beginning of math class, and Richie, along with everybody else, watched as the bitch Whitney-what’s-her-name got up from her desk and ran up to Eddie, who was just entering the classroom.

 

Eddie’s facial expression matched with Richie’s. Neither of them seemed to have any idea where Whitney’s sudden interest in the boy had come from, and Richie could only hope that it would soon again disappear back to the dark hole it came from.

 

”What an airhead,” a voice then said next to Richie, and looking to his right side, Richie noticed none other than Allison Greene sitting next to him, onto _Eddie’s_ seat. ”Why’s she suddenly so interested in Eddie?”

 

”What are you doing?” Richie asked, in a little too rude tone of voice. No, he still didn’t like Allison, was that so bad? He still had to find a single quality in her that he liked.

 

Allison raised her eyebrow. ”Um, are you daft? Sitting down, obviously, I do think you’re familiar with the act, considering that’s whatyou’re doing right now.”

 

”Yeah, yeah, no need to be sassy. Why are you in Eddie’s seat?”

 

”Honey, I think we both know that Eddie’s not going to sit next to you,” Allison said, and before Richie could open his mouth, she continued. ”Believe it or not, we’ve been talking for the past nine days. He’s not mad at you, nor does he blame you. His mother’s just a big fucking cow.”

 

”Why the hell has he been talking to you, when he won’t talk to any of us?” Richie demanded, eyeing the way Whitney something practically forced Eddie to sit down next to her.

 

”Because his mother thinks I can bring the straight back into him,” Allison replied easily, also looking at the way Whitney was all over Eddie. ”God, I do get what she possibly sees in him, but don’t you think the sudden interest is weird? She cornered me in the girls locker room the other day, demanding every bit of information about Eddie.”

 

Richie scoffed. ”And what did you tell her?”

 

”That he enjoyes long walks on the beach, relaxing bubble-baths at midnigh and a dick up his ass,” Allison said, making Richie snort. ”See, I’m making you laugh already. You can’t deny that you like me a little bit Tozier.”

 

”More like detest you a little less. Is there a reason why you sat down next to me?”

 

”Well now you’re getting to the point,” Allison grinned, watching as the teacher lazily walked into the classroom. ”You have fourth-period free right? Great, Eddie does too, so meet him in the biology lab then, it should be empty and you can talk there.”

 

Richie narrowed his eyes at Allison. ”And why would you want to help me?” he asked skeptically. ”For all I know, you’re still crushing on Eddie, so what reason do you have to help us out?”

 

Allison scoffed. ”You know Richie, the whole jealousy thing you have going on? Knock it off. I don’t care if it’s just the product of your insecurity and fear of abandonment, but it’s going to bite you in the ass at some point. Whether or not I still like Eddie is none of your business, so stop worrying about that as well. I think we both know that Eddie doesn’t like me as anything more than a friend, And as to why would I want to help you? Because Eddie is still my friend, and I care about his happiness. So if his happiness depends on an asshole like you, then so be it.”

 

Richie didn’t say anything after that.

 

* * *

 

Fourth period didn’t seem to come around fast enough. Richie spent all of his classes, staring at the clock while bouncing his leg, earning multiple complaints from other people for not staying still. Richie ignored most of them, tapping his pencil onto his wooden desk and biting his nails.

 

When the third period finally ended, Richie practically flew away from his seat and ran down the hallway, eager to get to the biology lab. He wasn’t sure if Eddie was there already or not, but he hoped he would be.

 

Richie found Eddie in front of the science lab, an uncomfortable smile on his face as he listened to Whitney something babbling away about some hair product that nobody gave a shit about.

 

”Eddie! My favourite boy!” Richie came up to them, putting his arm around Eddie’s shoulder and looking at Whitney who still had a smile on her face, but a malicious glint in her eye. ”And… Wendy. Don’t you have a class to attend to?”

 

Whitney pursed her lips before smiling again. ”It’s Whitney actually, and no, I have a free period. And I was just about to ask Eddie here if he wanted to...”

 

”He probably doesn’t” Richie answered with a tight smile. ”But it was nice of you to ask!”

 

Whitney something was about to open her big mouth to say something intelligent again, but Richie just waved his fingers to her and pulled Eddie to the darkened classroom. Whitney let out a loud huff, before walking off to the other direction.

 

”Thanks,” Eddie said in a quiet voice, sitting down on a chair and pulling his knees to his chest.

 

”You okay?” Richie asked, kneeling down in front of Eddie, so they could be somewhat face to face.

 

Eddie shrugged and sniffed a little bit. ”She’s crazy and I hate her,” Eddie then said, obviously refering to his mother. ”She’s gotten Allison to visit me about seven times, and it wouldn’t be that bad if I didn’t know that her intention is to just make us get back together. If that wasn’t enough, Whitney came by two days ago, and mom couldn’t have been happier.”

 

”What the hell was that cow doing there?” Richie asked.

 

”The fuck should I know,” Eddie frowned and wiped his eyes before any tears could fall. ”Anyway… sorry about the other day. It wasn’t your fault – mom’s just mental. She made me go to this fucking doctor, who signed me some ’anti-gay pills, which are bullshit no doubt, and she makes sure I take them every night.”

 

Richie shook his head. ”Yeah, Greta Keene has told just about every person she can,” he said quietly, unsure of how Eddie was going to react. Much to Richie’s surprise, Eddie just shrugged again, as if it was a no big deal to him.

 

Some tears begun to form in Eddie’s eyes again, and this time Richie took the liberty of wiping them away. Eddie’s skin was soft under his hands, and Eddie leaned into his touch, eventually wrapping his arms around Richie’s neck, hiding hi face into his neck, while Richie moved his own arms around Eddie’s waist.

 

”It’s going to be okay,” Richi whispered against Eddie’s head, unsure if he was lying or not.

 

* * *

 

”I take it you can’t make it this weekend, huh Eddie?” Beverly asked as all of them were having lunch the next day at school.

 

Mrs Kaspbrak had decided that she would drive Eddie to school and home every day, just to make sure that Eddie wouldn’t be going to see Richie after school. It was all the monitoring she was able to do – it wasn’t like she would be able to make sure they couldn’t interact in school. What she did do though was ensure that Eddie and Richie wouldn’t see each other outside of school.

 

They were supposed to have a movie night that weekend – there wasn’t even a slightest chance that Eddie would be able to make it in there if his mother knew that Richie was going to be there.

 

”Not sure,” Eddie mumbled. ”She has nothing personally against the rest of you – if I could make her belive that Richie won’t be coming, then I could come, but it’s unlikely.”

 

”Please don’t take this as a personal offense of anything Eddie,” Stan said. ”But your mother is a one big cow, and that’s a fact.”

 

Richie snorted. ”Wow, Stan the man has finally caught up with the rest of the world.”

 

”You know Eddie, in times like these, you can always try to look at the bright side,” Stan mused, tapping his fork against his chin. ”At least Richie won’t be able to make mom jokes anymore, no can he?”

 

Bill laughed at Stan’s words, leaning his head against Stan’s shoulder. ”Th-that might actually b-be t-true.”

 

”Not so fast Stanley – the romance between me and Mrs K might’ve ended tragically due to me boning her son, but that doesn’t mean that the spark that it between me and lovely Mrs Uris is going anywhere,” Richie grinned.

 

”N-need I remind you R-richie that your n-n-not boning a-anyone,” Bill remarked. ”Eddie would tell m-me in a heartbeat i-if you two actually d-d-did it.”

 

Richie let out a dramatic gasp and turned to look at Eddie, who just shrugged as a reply. ”Eddie! How dare you – you would share our most intimate moments with Billy, just like that?”

 

”With no hesitation,” Eddie answered and bit into a baby carrot.

 

* * *

 

When Richie got home that day, he definitely wasn’t expecting Allison Greene to be waiting for him, sitting on the house porch. Yet there she was, cigarette in her hand (a habit that Richie didn’t even know she had), giving him a wide smile as he walked closer.

 

”Why are you here?” Richie asked as he stopped right in front of Allison.

 

”Wanted to know if you and Eddie talked it out,” Allison shrugged.

 

Richie scoffed. ”Yeah right – you could have just texted Eddie, or better yet, visited him and asked him then. There’s no need for you to be here if that’s the case.”

 

”Well you caught me,” Allison said, hopping off the porch and throwing the cigarette on the ground before stepping on it. ”Why don’t you invite me in and we can talk about why I’m really here.”

 

”Yes, because that doesn’t sound dubious at all. What if you’re here to murder me.”

 

Allison laughed. ”If I wanted to murder you, I would have done it already,” she shook her head. ”It’s cute how little you trust me.”

 

Richie snorted, but stepped around Allison anyway and opened the front door. ”I would say ladies first, but I’m not sure if you’re a lady,” he said and walked in, not waiting for Allison to follow, just leaving the door open.

 

”Yeah, that’s why I let you go in first,” Allison said, following Richie inside and slamming the door closed behind her. Richie lifted his eyebrow at her, questioning what she meant by that. ”You know, ladies first and all that… that’s why I let you go first, you know… if you have to explain it, the jokes over, forget it,” Allison then said, sitting on top of the kitchen counter and looking around a little bit.

 

”Eddie made us think you were some kind of super feminist, and there you go, using lady as an insult towards me.”

 

”Ah, very true,” Allison said with a smile. ”But if there’s one thing I’ve learned about men during my life, it’s that the best way to damage their ego is to question either their masculinity or their heterosexuality. And since you’re out and proud, that won’t work on you. Not that one could mistake you as a straight person anyway...”

 

Richie was about to get himself a glass of orange juice, maybe even offer Allison some since he was feeling nice at the moment, but stopped and turned to look at Allison. ”What is that supposed to mean? I could so come off as straight – I was the epitome of heterosexuality before Eddie!”

 

Allison just smiled at him. ”Got ’em,” she said.

 

”And what was the reason for you to be here again?” Richie asked. ”I forgot.”

 

”Oh, I haven’t told you yet,” Allison smiled, laughing as Richie glared at her with the heat of at least a thousand suns. ”You’re so easy to mess with Richie – Eddie had me beliving opposite, but it turns out he was wrong. Or am I the only one who has that effect on you? Cause if so, I’m honor Tozier, I really am.”

 

”Get to the point,” Richie sang, giving Allison the biggest fake smile he possibly could. ”It won’t take long until I throw you out if you don’t get to the point quickly.”

 

Allison rolled her eyes. ”Okay, okay, geez you’re in such a hurry,” she said, trying to fight off her smile. ”Okay, so Whitney Blake.”

 

”Who?”

 

”Oh my god, Eddie’s in love with an idiot. The girl in our math class, who suddenly is all over Eddie, out of absolutely nowhere,” Allison sighed in a desparated tone.

 

”What about her?”

 

Allison groaned. ”I swear to god,” she muttered. ”I want to know what’s her deal. You want to know what’s her deal. Together, we can find out what the fuck is her problem and what does she want with Eddie,” Allison explained slowly. ”You still follow, or should I go over it once more?”

 

Richie almost snorted. ”You want us – meaning me and you – to work together to find out what that harridan wants?”

 

”That’s a fancy word, you sure you know what that means?” Allison asked, before grinning widely. ”And to answer your question – yes, I stated that just now. Good that you caught up so easily.”

 

”You want us – you and me – to work together.”

 

Allison nodded. ”It’s going to be catastrophic,” she grinned. ”And much more effective than if one of us were to do it alone. So you in, bucko?” Allison offered her hand and wiggled her eyebrows.

 

”Why would I want to spend anymore time with you?” Richie asked, eyeing the hand skeptically.

 

”Oh come on, it’ll be fun and it’s for a good cause,” Allison whined. ”We can plan the formal execution of Sonia Kaspbrak as well while were at it. We’ll kill two birds with one stone. It’ll be great!”

 

Richie sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Allison was right in one thing – he did want to know what the cow that went by the word Whitney wanted. Working with Allison on it though… well that didn’t sound too attractive.

 

”Fine,” Richie groaned. ”As long as we don’t have to interact ever again once were done.”

 

”Oh trust me Tozier, you’ll want me as your best man for your and Eddie’s wedding after were done.”


	15. 15. Everything is a panic reference at this point

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes hello, i am back and ya'll are honestly going to hate me. I'm not discontinuing this story or anything, fuck that, but I honestly have zero clue where I'm going with this lol xD i think i had a completely different vision for this when i started it and now it has evolved into this pile of shit and i can't stop it sos. so after this it's going to take me a pretty long time to update, but i promise i will as soon as i get more ideas. maybe i'll edit this story, maybe i'll re-write it at some point, who knows. but you're going to have to wait for the next update on this one, but i won't abandon this. you might as well go ahead and check out my other stories, because honestly, i get a new idea every week for a new fic and honestly i always just forget everything else for a moment and work on ideas for that one and so on...  
> this chapter is pretty useless and not at all good, but i appreciate your comments

**15.**

 

Besides going to school, Eddie wasn’t allowed outside nearly at all anymore. His mother had practically consficated his phone, giving it to him only when she wasn’t around and Eddie might have to contact her or after she had checked who was trying to reach him. If it was somebody from the loser’s club, she wouldn’t let him answer. If it was Allison, she would allow it.

 

It was funny in a way, the fact that his mother trusted Allison so blindly, hoping that she would take the gay out of her son, while in reality, Allison was the one trying to break Eddie out of his hell. Over the course of last two weeks, after he had returned to school, it was Allison who delivered Eddie messages from Richie and the rest of the loser’s club.

 

 **Richie wants you to know that he loves you, honey pie -** Allison would send him at some point after Eddie’s mother wasn’t looking over his shoulder anymore.

 

**Richie says that he can’t wait to slay the dragon keeping that’s keeping the pretty princess as a hostage. After that he hopes to receive a blowjob as a reward.**

 

It was small things like that that made Eddie’s life a little more bearable now. That and the fact that he could still be around Richie and his friends at school – his mother had no control over him there. Eddie and Richie could easily sneak off to the bathroom or the storage room during their free periods if they wanted to have some alone time, so nothing really changed.

 

Except the fact that now there was Whitney Blake following him around everywhere she possibly could and Eddie didn’t know why. He had lived his entire life being basically ignored by girls – the first girl to ever really acknowledge him in any positive way (besides Bev of course) was Allison. And while Allison was pretty and nice and funny, Eddie couldn’t help but think whether or not his feelings towards her were truly, one-hundred percent, genuine, or if they were just him making himself believe that he was crushing on a girl who actually paid him any attention. See Eddie had grown up in an environtment where everything was a disease – he hadn’t really thought about romantic relations at all before Allison came into the picture, and even then it felt a little forced.

 

During that time Eddie had made himself belive that it was because it was all so very new to him and not because it felt wrong. Kissing Allison had never been anything like kissing Richie, and Eddie had found himself thinking about it quite a lot while he was alone in his room.

 

And then there was the fact that Allison reminded him so much of Richie that it worried him a little. From her absolutely crude jokes to her curly hair, she might’ve been the exact same person, only a female with darker skin. And this had let to his conclusion why he ever even made himself believe he was interested in Allison as anything more than a friend: because she was the female version of Richie – Richie, who Eddie loved more than he could comprehend. And while Eddie let this thought wonder around his brain, he realized that he always had loved Richie as more than a friend, but never consciously acknowledged it, because of his mother. And then Allison had come into the picture, being so eerily similar to Richie that Eddie couldn’t help himself and projected all his repressed feelings to her.

 

And how does thiese self-discovering thoughts lead back to Whitney Blake? Eddie had no idea, but he couldn’t help but feel like all the unwanted attention he was getting from her was just a set up for the poor, defenseless gay kid.

 

”Now Eddie-bear, you remember what we agreed,” his mother said as she dropped Eddie off to school again.

 

”Yea, yeah, mom, no talking to my friends,” Eddie rolled his eyes.

 

”Your what?”

 

”My acquaintances,” he gritted out and his mom gave him a patronizing smile before kissing his cheek and letting him run along to school.

 

Obviously Eddie wasn’t planning on following his mother’s orders – it was stupid of her to even think that he did. As soon as Sonia Kaspbrak’s car was out of sight and Eddie was safely inside the school building, he met up with Richie by his locker.

 

”Well if it isn’t my favourite cuddle bear,” Richie grinned, pecking him quickly on the lips.

 

Eddie raised his eyebrow, his suspicions raising. ”Well you’re in a good mood? What’s your deal?” he asked. While it wasn’t unusual for Richie to be cheery, he had been a little more cranky and not his usual self lately. Of course Eddie blamed it on himself – the last time Richie wasn’t acting like himself, it was his fault. And now it was no different.

 

”Things are looking up my dear Spaghetti,” Richie said, throwing his arm around Eddie’s shoulders, and Eddie let him keep it there.

 

”Care to elaborate?`”

 

Richie shook his head. ”No, not really. Not yet anyway,” he said smiling.

 

Eddie huffed in annoyance but didn’t say anything. They had biology on the first period and it was the one class that the entire losers club had together.

 

”You wanna skip little one?” Richie asked Eddie when they were nearing their friends, who were conviniently waiting for them in front of the classroom.

 

”Mom would kill me if she found out,” Eddie hummed. ”Plus they’re waiting for us,” he said, gesturing to their friends, who had now noticed them and were waiving them over.

 

Richie pouted and whined. ”But I miss you,” he said. ”I’m not getting any alone time anymore.” And there he went again, making Eddie feel quilty for not being able to hang out with Richie anymore, or with any of his friends.

 

”Fine,” Eddie gave in, not liking the miserable look on Richie’s face.

 

Richie cheered and turned the pair of them around, heading back to the way from which they came from. Eddie glanced over his shoulders to see his friends giving them weird looks and Eddie just shot them an apologetic look.

 

Richie directed them towards the football field and to the bleachers, which were currently empty. Richie settled for the top row of the bleachers, laying down on his back on them.

 

”So this is why we’re gonna skip,” Eddie said as he watched Richie close his eyes. ”So I get to watch you sleep?”

 

”Why, you wanna get frisky? I’m not going to object to that, you know that.”

 

Eddie rolled his eyes and sat next to Richie, dropping his schoolbag on the ground in the progress. He wondered whether or not he should ask Richie how he and Allison had suddenly decided to get along, considering how all of Richie’s messages to Eddie came from Allison. Eddie was tempted to do so, but at last minute decided that it didn’t really matter all that much – if Richie and Allison got along, Eddie was fine with everything else.

 

”So, Eddiekins,” Richie started. ”Tell me your opinion: are Bill and Stan dating or nah?”

 

”Considering that we saw them making out in Bill’s car not too long ago, I’d go with a pretty solid yes,” Eddie answered, not bothering to snap at Richie for using the most annoying nickname yet.

 

”That doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Maybe they’re just hooking up. You know, a casual affair,” Richie said.

 

”If you that was a Panic! At The Disco reference, I swear to god-”

 

”Everything is a Panic reference at this point Eddie, you should know this,” Richie laughed, sitting up on the bench and looking at Eddie with a wide grin. ”So are we going to make out or what?”


End file.
